Lok Sabha Question No. 675 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-28
Subject: Management of Flood and Drought
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Smt. Bharti Pardhi, Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Shri Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne, Shri Dharmendra Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 675

ANSWERED ON 28.11.2024

## MANAGEMENT OF FLOOD AND DROUGHT

## SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV SHRI SHRIRANG APPA CHANDU BARNE SHRI ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT SMT. BHARTI PARDHI

## 675.

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has prepared any consolidated plan for effective management of flood and drought in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof and its present status;

(c) whether the Government has consulted the State Governments while preparing the aforesaid plan;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the response of the State Governments particularly Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh thereto;

(e) the reasons for not finding a concrete solution of flood and drought in the country;

(f)  the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  find  out  effective  solution  to  check  flood  and  drought problems at the ground level; and

(g) the extent to which success has been achieved in this regard so far?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

## ( SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY )

(a)  to  (g) Flood  management  and  anti-erosion  schemes  are  formulated  and  implemented  by  concerned  State Governments as per their priority.  Government of India promotes and provides technical assistance, as well as promotional financial assistance for critical projects. Some of the key initiatives of Government of India in this regard in the recent past, are given below.

A  Committee,  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Vice-Chairman  of  NITI  Aayog,  in  consultation  with  the  State Governments including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, submitted its report for formulation of strategy for flood management works in the entire country. The effective and long-lasting strategy involves combination of structural and non-structural measures along with the use of modern technology which can alleviate the problem of  floods  to  a  great  degree.  The  Committee  proposed  to  extend  the  Flood  Management  and  Border  Area Programme (FMBAP) for the period of 2021-26. The Union Government is implementing "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP)" with total outlay of Rs. 4,100 crore during 2021-26. A total of 529 FMP schemes have been approved and total Central assistance amounting to Rs 7136.00 Cr. has been released under FMP  component  to  various  States/UTs  till  October  2024.  Out  of  these,  427  completed  schemes  have  given protection to an area of around 5.04 Mha and protected a population of about 53.69 million.

For Non-structural measures, Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal Organisation entrusted with the task of flood forecasting & early flood warnings in the country. The network has been established in consultation with the State Governments and UTs. Besides short-range forecasts with response time of 24 hours, CWC has also developed basin wise flood forecasting model based on rainfall-runoff mathematical modelling for 7 days' advance advisory at its  forecasting  stations  in  order  to  provide  more  lead  time  to  the  local  authorities  to  plan evacuation  of  people  &  take  other  remedial  measures. Presently,  flood  forecasts  are  issued  by  CWC  at  340 stations  (200  level  forecasts  and  140  inflow  forecasts).  Out  of  this  12  Inflow  Forecast  Stations  and  2  Level Forecast  Stations  are  in  Madhya  Pradesh;  14  Inflow  Forecast  Stations  and  8  Level  Forecast  Stations  are  in Maharashtra and 5 Inflow Forecast Stations and 39 Level Forecast Stations) are in Uttar Pradesh.

Ministry  of  Jal  Shakti  has  continuously  impressed  upon  the  States  the  need  to  adopt  flood  plain  zoning approach as a non-structural measure of flood management in the country.  In order to enable States to undertake scientific assessment of flood plains and its zoning, draft technical guidelines on Flood Plain Zoning have been prepared by Ministry and circulated to the States/UTs in 2024.

For the effective management of floods and drought in the country, National Water Development Agency (NWDA)  has  been  entrusted  the  work  of  Interlinking  of  Rivers  Programme  which  is  aimed  at  interlinking different surplus river basins of country with the deficient river basins, so that the excess water from the surplus region could be diverted to the deficient region and vice- versa.

Implementation of schemes for expanding cultivable area of land and increasing the actual access of water to farms for the benefit of the farmers for effective drought management lies in the domain of the State Government concerned.

Extension of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 has been approved by Government of India, with an overall outlay of Rs. 93,068.56  crore. Under PMKSY-Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (PMKSY-AIBP), 62 major and medium projects have been completed. Irrigation potential created during 2016-17 to 2023-24 is 26.13 lakh hectare.

Under  PMKSY-AIBP, 12 major and medium projects  (including  5  phases)  of  Madhya  Pradesh  has  been completed, whereas 4 projects are ongoing.  Irrigation  potential  created  during  2016-17  to  2023-24  in  Madhya Pradesh is 1.83 lakh hectare. 16 major and medium projects of Maharashtra have been completed whereas 10 are ongoing. Irrigation potential created during 2016-17 to 2023-24 in Maharashtra is 3.77 lakh hectare. 2 major and medium projects of  Uttar  Pradesh  have  been  completed  and  2  are  ongoing.  Irrigation  potential  created  during 2016-17 to 2023-24 in Uttar Pradesh is 7.67 lakh hectare.

A special package for completion of 8 Major and Medium Irrigation (MMI) and 83 Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) projects of Maharashtra, having estimated balance cost of Rs. 13,651.61 crore as on April, 2018, has been approved for financial assistance by Government of India during 2018-19. 2 MMI and 53 SMI projects have been completed with irrigation potential creation of 1.66 lakh hectare in Maharashtra.

Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) is implementing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) in the Country from 2015-16.  From the year 2015-16 to 2021-22, the PDMC was implemented as a component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). During the year 2022-23, the PDMC is being implemented under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Central  Water  Commission  monitors  live  storage  status  of  155  important  reservoirs  in  the  country  on weekly  basis  and  issues  weekly  bulletin  on  every  Thursday.   This  Weekly  Bulletin  is  shared  with  the  WR Departments of concerned states and also uploaded on the CWC website. This weekly bulletin is also shared with Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.