PIRAVOM: The National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA), a multi-crore project for the conservation of soil and development of agriculture, is dragging in the state. Only 15 percent of the Rs 50 crore allotted by the Central Agricultural Ministry has been spent till date. The amount was allotted for the XI Five Year Plan that ends in March 2012. Farmers and beneficiaries of the project fear that the amount would lapse if it is not used properly. Only 10 months are left for the period to end.“The project is aimed at developing 85,000 hectare agricultural land in 34 watershed areas in the state.The 34 areas are divided into 131 micro-watershed units. Only Rs 7.25 crore has been spend to develop these units,” said Elias T Varghese, general secretary of the Watershed Association, Kerala. “More than Rs 9.28 crore is lying in the account of the district officer,” he said.A dispute between the Agricultural Department and Rural Development about the appointment of a nodal agency to implement the project claimed two years. The dispute was finally settled and officials of Agricultural Department and Soil Conservation Department were appointed in the nodal agency last year, Varghese said.Lack of proper guidelines, too, hindered implementation of the project. “The cost of soil conservation work differs in various districts. In Thrissur, constructing a mud fence costs Rs 83 per metre. In Kottyam, it is Rs 6,000 per hectare and in Ernakulam, it is Rs 3,000. This difference in rates was causing problem in proper implementation of the projects,” said Association president Baby Francis. In Uzhavoor, watershed schemes for Elanji and Uzhavoor panchayat and Manakadavu-Mancherikuzhi watershed schemes for Kunnathunadu, Kizhakkambalam, Ikaranadu and Puthenkuruz panchayats were sanctioned by the Government. “Both projects are being implemented at very slow pace,” Francis said. Leaders of the association recently met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and he assured speedy implementation of the project.Additional Director of Soil Survey P N Premechandran, who is in-charge of the watershed project, said he had convened a meeting of all district officers and officebearers of the Watershed Association and decided to fasten the implementation of the project.The district-level meeting of the nodal agency will be held at the Collectorate on Wednesday to formulate further guidelines for the implementation of the project.
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