Participatory Irrigation Management

Participatory Irrigation Management

Introduction

The concept of Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) has been recognized all over the world as a

tool for improving irrigation management along with sustainability of the system. Irrigation systems

need to be restructured to make water management efficient. However increasing demand of water in

all sectors including irrigation made it imperative that the efficiency of the Irrigation Water

Management must be increased. National Water Policy and State Water Policy, lay emphasis on

participatory irrigation management to be adopted as an essential strategy for improving the

performance of all the irrigation projects and therefore farmers should be involved progressively from

the grass root level particularly in water distribution &canal maintenance. Thus the Government has

planned to involve farmers-users in a more systematic way, at least, at the tertiary level of the canal

systems for alleviation of the management problems.

Objectives

.

To promote and secure equitable distribution of water among its users, adequate maintenance of

irrigation system, efficient and economical utilization of water to optimize agricultural production.

.

To protect the environment and to ensure ecological balance inculcating sense of ownership of the

irrigation system in accordance with the water budget and the operational plan.

.

To Bridge the gap between potential created and potential utilized.

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For Prompt attention to problems and resolutions of disputes.

.

For Collective involvement in better application & management of agricultural extension services.

PIM in Orissa

Participatory Irrigation Management that was introduced in the state during 1995 on a pilot basis under

Orissa Water Resources Consolidation Project (OWRCP) under the banner of farmers’ organization and

turn over (FOT). Experiencing its success at large, it was extended to all the commands of Major,

Medium, Minor and lift Irrigation Projects. Subsequently, during the year 2000, the water users

associations have been renamed as Pani Panchayats. From its inception, till date a lot of efforts have

been given for wide acceptance of the programme. During this period massive awareness campaign,

capacity building through training, workshops, interactive workshops had been conducted at regular

interval for the farmers, office bearers of Pani Panchayats and officials of concerned departments.

Legal Framework-Act & Rules.

To strengthen the Pani Panchayat programme, it was felt that there should be a legal backing to the

existence of the Pani Panchayats. In this regard the Orissa Pani Panchayat Act-2002 came into force

with effect from 15.11.2002 & the Orissa Pani Panchayat Rule-2003 came into force with effect from

23.04.2003. Later necessary amendment of the Pani Panchayat Act. has been made and published in

t h

Orissa Gazette on 20

Jan, 2009.

Structure

Farmers Organization is three tiers for Medium and Minor Irrigation Projects and four-tier for Major

Irrigation Projects, as indicated below:

Annual Report 2009-10

 i. WUA / Pani Panchayats at primary level consisting of several chak committees.

ii. Distributary Committee at secondary level (Major Projects) is a federation of all WUA / Pani

Panchayats under the distributary.

iii. A Project Committee, at project level, is a federation of all distributary committees’ for major

projects. Similarly for Medium Irrigation Projects it is a federation of all WUA / Pani Panchayats.

iv. In Lift Irrigation Projects it is a single tier  system i.e. Pani Panchayat.

Above all, there will be a state level Committee to lay down policies for implementation of Pani

Panchayat Programme as per the provision of the Orissa Pani Panchayat Act, 2002.

Pani Panchayats are farmers’ organizations formed by involving the farmers owning land withing the

hydraulically delineated block of 300 Ha. To 600 Ha. In the command area of Major & Medium

Irrigation project. These Pani Panchayats are represented by the members of various chaks under the

same Pani Panchayat.

Physical Progress-

(Formation, Handing over & Election)

Out of programmed 19551 Pani Panchayats 18014 Pani Panchayats have been formed and the

Canalsystem has been handed over to them.

Initially Pani Panchayat were formed and registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Now

Pani Panchayats are being formed by conducting election as per Orissa Pani Panchayat Act, 2002 &

Orissa Pani Panchayat Rule, 2003. By end of March, 2010 election of Pani Panchayat has been

completed in 17803 Pani Panchayats under major, Medium, Minor & Lift Irrigation Projects. The details

are as given below:

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Function

The functions of Pani Panchayats have been defined in the Orissa Pani Panchatyat Act-2002and the

Orissa Pani Panchayat Rules-2003. Some of the important functions are given below:

.

To prepare cropping programme considering the soil and agro climatic condition with due regards

to crop diversification.

.

To prepare a plan for the maintenance of irrigation system in the area of its operation at the end of

each crop season and carryout the maintenance works with the funds of the Pani Panchayats from

time to time.

.

To regulate the use of water among the various pipe outlets under its area of its operation

according to the warabandi schedule of the system.

.

To promote economy in the use of water allocated.

.

To assist the Revenue and Disaster Management Department in the preparation of demand and

collection of water rates except EC aided projects and L.I projects over the farmers collect water

tax among themselves.

.

To resolve the disputes, if any, between the members and water users in its area of operation and

to raise resources.

.

Under World Bank assisted Orissa Community Tank Management Project (OCTMP) Pani Panchayats

have been empowered to collect water rate & retention of the same for O&M and take up the O&M

of Head works including the distributary system.

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CAD&PIM Directorate

To provide necessary support to operationalise the PIM concept in the State, a new Directorate

of Command Area Development and Participatory Irrigation Management (CAD&PIM ) has been

established during 2007-08 under Department of  Water Resources. This Directorate will make

concerted effort to scale up the CAD & PIM activities to all completed and ongoing projects in the State

wide effectively. This Directorate have three units namely O&M unit to look after O&M works, CAD

(Engg) unit to look after CAD activities and Pani Panchayat Support unit to look after the PP formation

and elections, capacity building of PPs and their functioning. The organizational structure of the

Directorate is given in the following page.

ORGANOGRAM OF CAD-PIM DIRECTORATE

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Grant-In –aid for O&M of canals

Grant-in-aid is being given to the Pani Panchayats on achievement of 75% of membership by paying a

nominal participatory fee for O&M of canals handed over to them. Initially, it was decided to give

Grant-in-aid @Rs.35/- per hectare and later it was enhanced to Rs.100/- per hectare for the first year

and it is proportional to the percentage to the membership for subsequent three years. From fifth year

onwards the Grant-in-aid shall be proportional to amount of water rate assessed and collected in the

preceding financial years.

Construction of Pani Panchayats Building

The Government has issued instructions to provide assistance for construction of office building for

Pani Panchayats out of M.P. &M.L.A. LAD fund with the following criteria.

i. The operation and maintenance of Minor & Sub-minors are taken over by Pani Panchayats.

ii. The membership should be at least 80% of the total number of beneficiaries.

iii. The collection of water rate for the previous 3 years should be at least 75% of the demand.

iv. The assistance for each building will be limited to Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand) only, which

will be credited to the bank account of the pani Panchayat as a grant-in-aid.

v. The cost of construction of office building may be met out of M.L.A LAD fund or any other grant that

the Government may decide from time to time. The upper limit of Pani Panchayat Building,

constructed out of MLA LAD fund, should not exceed Rs.3.00 lakh.

vi. The Pani Panchayats concerned shall provide land for the building free of cost or bear the cost of

the land. They are also free to make such other contribution to the building in cash or in kind as

they may decide.

vii. In respect of the building to be constructed out of MLA LAD assistance, the work can be executed

by Pani Panchayat or as per the MLA LAD Scheme guidelines issued by Governemnt in P&C Department

from time to time and subject to such other conditions as would be prescribed by Water Resources

Department. In this regard, Planning & C-ordination Department has amended Rules and procedures

for sanction of MLA LAD funds 1997 to make construction of Pani Panchayat buildings as admissible

project.

Annual Report 2009-10

Procurement of Paddy & sale to FCI through Pani Panchayats

As per the decision of the Government, so far the Pani Panchayats of Salandi Irr. Projects, Salia,

Ghodahada, Dhanei, Pitamahal, Budhabudhiani, Aunli, Derjang, Bhaskel Uttei, Hirakud and Upper jonk

are involved for procuring paddy and selling it to FCI.

Capacity Building

a.T raining & Workshop

Training Programme for P.P office bearers’ and junior level officers were conducted by WALMI and 15

Krushak Vikash Kendras (KVKs) of the state. Altogether 425 programmes were conducted during 2009-

2010 covering 15596 pani panchayats office bearers.

Lady Farmers after concluding monthly meeting (Rushikulya Irrigation Project)

PP office bearers are undergoing pratical training in WALMI

Mass Awareness

a.Observation of Pani Panchayat Fortnight:

To

disseminate the concept of Pani Panchayat among the farmers for better involvement in this

programme, Pani Panchayat fortnight is being observed throughout the state every year during the

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th

period 26

December to 9

January. The fortnight was observed at 50 divisions and at project level of

all major and medium irrigation projects, at 18 divisions and 4 circle of the minor irrigation projects &

31 divisions of OLIC of the state. The closing ceremony of the fortnight was celebrated at Ravindra

th

Mandap, Bhubaneswar on 9

January 2010 where in best two Pani Panchayats of different circles

including minor irrigation project were awarded with cash prize, certificate and memento by Honbl’e

Chief Minister.

b.Publication of Pani Panchayat Samachar

The Pani Panchayat Samachar is being published quarterly basis and distributed to at all Pani

Panchayats for wide publicity of Programme and policies of Government related to Pani Panchayat.

t h

th

th

During 2007-08 the 13

, 14

and 15

issue of Pani Panchayat Samachar were published and

th

distributed among the farmers. The 25

issue of the same is under publication. In additions, posters

containing different themes of the concept and leaflets were published and distributed to all Pani

Panchayats for creating mass awareness.

Field channel constructed by members of MAA       Pani Panchayat members of Salandi Irrigation

Harachandi Pani Panchayat                               Projects cleaning of the canal

c.Gramsat Programme

Interactive Training for Pani Panchayats is being imparted through Gramsat programme each month on

an interactive mode to have a wider coverage of the programme. This year 10 nos. of GRAMSAT

programmes have been conducted on different aspects of Pani Panchayat.  Through this  programme,

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farmers sitting at district and block level interacted with the central resource persons and clarified all

their doubts through direct conversations.

Monitoring

For effective implementation of PIM, the programme is monitored regularly at different levels.

i. The State Government has constituted a committee of High Level Working Group on PIM under the

Chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Orissa.

ii. The Agriculture Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Department of Water Resources

are monitoring the progress of Pani Panchayat at State Level.

iii. The Chief Engineer & Basin Managers are making necessary review of PIM activities at Project level.

iv. The district Collectors are monitoring the PIM of the district under their.

v. Jurisdiction in District Level Advisory Committee Meeting in every two months interval. In addition,

day to day activities of the programme are being monitored by Directorate of CAD-PIM

Performance Evaluation & Incentives.

As a factor of motivation best first and second Pani Panchayat on the basis of grading of major,

medium, minor & Lift Irrigation Project were awarded with best prize and certificate on  the closing

ceremony of the Pani Panchayat fort night by Hon’ble Chief Minister, Orissa during2009-10.

Achievements.

1. Farmers are being involved in PWT in preparation of project report including plan, estimate and

implementation. This is compulsory in ADB assisted OIIAWMP and World Bank assisted OCTMP.

2. Gap ayacut between potential created & potential utilized is being reduced. According to the Impact

Evaluation Study for CAD programme in Mahanadi Delta Stage-I by WAPCOS, the gap ayacut

between potential created & potential utilized has been reduced from 24% to 21%.

3. Construction of field channel and field drain of 43224 hectare has been carried out by487 nos. of

Pani Panchayats in 2009-10.

4. Crop diversion & crop intensification is gradually increasing in the command area.

5. 17803 Pani Panchayat have already been formed by conducting election out of 19551targeted Pani

Panchayats.

6. 15596 nos. of farmers belonging to Pani Panchayats were trained during the year2009-10.

Conclusion.

Pani Panchayat can emerge as socio-economic institution to ameliorate the rural poverty by providing a

single window platform for all developmental activities of irrigated agriculture and can subsequently

permeate to other developmental areas as its multiplier effects. It will help to preserve the rural

harmony in a holistic manner by checking the migration of labour from rural to urban area thus will

help strengthening the rural economy of the State.

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