NABARD to raise Rs 77,000 crore to fund 100 prioritised irrigation projects

Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKYS), the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will raise over Rs 77,000 crore to fund nearly 100 prioritised irrigation projects, including 56 in drought-prone areas. Out of the total projects, 26 irrigation projects will be completed in Maharashtra, while 14 and 11 projects in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, respectively. In phase-I, NABARD will provide Rs 20,000 crore for the construction of 23 irrigation projects by March 2017. 

Bihar cabinet approves Rs 543 crore for tap water

Under the Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal programme, the Bihar cabinet has approved a sum of Rs 543 crore for providing piped drinking water. Along with this, the cabinet has also given its green nod to the proposal of the public health engineering department (PHED) for the implementation of Bihar Gram Swachh Peyajal Nishchay Abhiyan. The objective of the scheme is to ensure community participation for making safe drinking water available to the fluoride and arsenic-affected areas.

Karnataka govt pays no heed to NGT’s wetlands order

The Karnataka government is yet to comply with the National Green Tribunal’s order to declare the lakes in Bengaluru as wetlands under the Wetland Rules, 2010. It seems that the delay is due to the government’s fear of additional restrictions imposed on wetland areas and the emphasis of preserving them in time-bound manner. Even in Chennai, the Madras high court has rapped the Tamil Nadu government for failure to remove encroachments on city waterways.

Telangana to come up with its own land acquisition act

In order to speed up work on irrigation projects, the Telangana government is all set to enact its own land acquisition act. The aim behind this move is to eliminate the procedural delays on account of the Central Act of 2013. Recently, the state government had proposed to create an irrigation potential of 3.6 million acres for which there is a need to acquire one lakh acres of land for full implementation of the irrigation projects.

NGT slaps a fine on DJB over groundwater extraction by Delhi Metro

The National Green Tribunal has reprimanded the Delhi Jal Board for not filing its response on a petition filed against Delhi Metro for extracting groundwater, instead of wastewater, to wash its trains. The DJB had assured the tribunal to file a reply against the petition within two or three days. However, no reply has been filed as yet. The Tribunal has also slapped a fine of Rs 2000 on the latter for making loose statements.

This is a roundup of important policy matters from September 4 - 10, 2016. Also read last week's news roundup.

Lead image source: Nvvchar via Wikipedia