Lok Sabha Question No. 4703 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-23
Subject: Repairing of Lakes and Ponds
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4703

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.03.2018

## Repairing of Lakes and Ponds

## 4703. SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  most  of  the  small  water  bodies  like  lakes  and  ponds  have  either become  non-functional  or  have  been  encroached  upon  due  to  the  apathy  of  the Government;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) the  number  of  old  ponds  and  lakes  repaired  and  made  usable  to  deal  with such problems; and
- (d) the details of the ponds and lakes made usable as on date, State/UT-wise?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) & (b) Rapid urbanization, developmental activities and anthropogenic pressures do stress water bodies.

This  Ministry  is  currently  implementing  a  scheme  namely,  National  Plan  for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA) for conservation and management of identified lakes and wetlands in the country on cost sharing basis between Central Government  and  respective  State  Governments.  The  scheme  covers  various activities  such  as  interception,  diversion  and  treatment  of  wastewater,  shoreline protection, lake front development, in-situ cleaning i.e. desilting & deweeding, storm water  management,  bioremediation,  catchment  area  treatment,  lake  beautification, survey & demarcation, biofencing, fisheries development, weed control, biodiversity conservation,  education  and  awareness  creation,  community  participation,  etc. Under NPCA,  financial assistance has been provided for conservation and management of 65 lakes and 83 identified wetlands in 26 States & 2 UTs.

Further, this Ministry had notified the Wetlands (Conservation and Management)  Rules,  2010  to  regulate  various  activities  within  and  around  the wetlands. These Rules have been superseded by the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 which inter-alia, lays down the list of prohibited activities within the wetlands such as conversion for non-wetland uses including encroachment of any kind etc.

O.I.H.

The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD & GR) is also supplementing the efforts of the State Governments by providing  technical  and  financial  assistance  to  State  Governments  to  encourage sustainable  development  and  efficient  management  of  water  resources  through various  schemes  and  programmes  such  as  scheme  for  Repair,  Renovation  and Restoration (RRR) of water bodies etc. States submit a certificate that water bodies are free from encroachment before they are considered under RRR of water bodies scheme.

(c) & (d) From the XII th plan onwards, 1701 water bodies have been included under the RRR of water bodies scheme. Out of these, 581 water bodies have been revived till March, 2017 as reported by States. The State-wise details of these are annexed.

*****

Annexure referred to in reply to parts (c) & (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.  4703  to  be  answered  on  23.03.2018  regarding  'Repairing  of  Lakes  and Ponds' raised by Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava.

State-wise details of water bodies included from XII th plan onwards, under the RRR of water bodies scheme:

| State          |   No. of Water bodies included from XII plan onwards |   No. of Water bodies revived till March, 2017* |
|----------------|------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Madhya Pradesh |                                                  125 |                                              82 |
| Manipur        |                                                    4 |                                               0 |
| Meghalaya      |                                                    9 |                                               0 |
| Odisha         |                                                  863 |                                             370 |
| Rajasthan      |                                                   68 |                                              24 |
| Tamil Nadu     |                                                  154 |                                             105 |
| Telangana      |                                                  399 |                                               0 |
| Uttar Pradesh  |                                                   74 |                                               0 |
| Uttarakhand    |                                                    5 |                                               0 |
| Total          |                                                 1701 |                                             581 |