Recently, the Indian Government alongside the administration of West Bengal, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the World Bank signed a loan agreement for the project titled ‘West Bengal Major Irrigation and Flood Management Project’. The primary purpose of the project is to enhance irrigation and flood management in the Damodar Valley Command Area (DVCA).
Focussed Objectives
The central aim of the project is to augment irrigation service delivery, reinforce flood risk management, and bolster climate change resilience. Approximately 2.7 million farmers hailing from five districts of West Bengal are projected to benefit from this initiative.
Key Components of the project
The project encompasses four distinctive components. Firstly, the irrigation management aspect aims to elevate the DVCA’s irrigation scheme by boosting service delivery, performance monitoring, and irrigation efficiency evaluation. Secondly, the modernization of irrigation infrastructure seeks to invest in infrastructure improvements at main, branch, distributary, and minor canal levels.
Thirdly, flood management will receive investment in structural measures to mitigate flooding while incorporating the recommendations of the Dam Safety. Finally, the project management segment will bolster the implementation agency’s capacity for project management, including financial management, monitoring, evaluation, and environmental and social safeguards management and communication. It will also launch a communication campaign to enlighten stakeholders on water use efficiency.
Project Financing
The total worth of the project is approximately $413.8 million. The majority of the cost is co-financed between the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) ($145 million), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ($145 million), and the Government of West Bengal ($123.8 million). The IBRD, part of the World Bank Group, offers financial products and policy advice to help countries alleviate poverty and extend the benefits of sustainable growth to all its citizens.
The Need for Modernization in DVCA
The Damodar Valley Command Area (DVCA) demands modernization. The DVCA is the region encompassing a dam that reaps the benefits such as irrigation water, electricity, etc. It grapples with challenges such as infrastructure degradation, inadequate irrigation management, deficient service delivery, and inefficient irrigation. Resultantly, farmers resort to groundwater extraction, escalating the cultivation costs.
Flooding in the Lower Damodar Basin
The Lower Damodar basin frequently experiences flooding due to its lack of defensive infrastructure against recurrent flooding. On average, annual recurrent flooding affects around 33,500 hectares of cropped area and approximately 461,000 people.
About Damodar River and Damodar Valley Corporation
The Damodar river originates from the Palamu hills of the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand. It flows through the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The river stands on the eastern fringes of the Chotanagpur Plateau where it continues through a rift valley and finally merges with the Hugli. Its primary tributary is the Barakar river.
The Damodar Valley Corporation, established in 1948, remains the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. Under this project, four dams were constructed namely, Tilaiya Dam, Konar Dam, Maithon Dam, and Panchet Dam.
