To create irrigation infrastructure at the ground level, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a World Bank supported National Watershed Management project worth Rs 2,142 crore. Under the project titled ‘Neeranchal’, check dams would be created across nine states — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. “Neeranchal will translate into better implementation outcomes of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) which was formally launched a few months back,” transport minister Nitin Gadkari said, adding the programme focussed on increasing ground water level at water-stressed areas. Of the total cost of Rs 2142 crore, the centre would provide Rs 889 crore, while state governments would contribute Rs 182 crore and the rest Rs 1,071 crore would be the loan component from the World Bank. At present only 5.6% of the cultivable land in Jharkhand have irrigation facilities, while Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have irrigation facilities in 26% and 34% of the agricultural land, respectively. Neeranchal is designed to further strengthen and provide technical assistance to the watershed component of PMKSY, thus enhancing its delivery capacity. “Neeranchal will support the Watershed component of PMKSY which was implemented by the Department of Land Resources (DoLR) in 28 states,” an official statement said. The statement also said that Neeranchal would focus on bring about institutional changes in watershed and rainfed agricultural management practices; build systems that ensure watershed programmes and rainfed irrigation management practices are better focussed and more coordinated and have quantifiable results; and devise strategies for the sustainability of improved watershed management practices in programme areas, even after the withdrawal of project support. Earlier, the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) was implemented since 2009-10 by the DoLR. From 2015-16 onwards, the IWMP will be implemented as the watershed component of PMKSY. In July, CCEA had approved PMKSY with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore to be spend during 2015-16 to 2019-20. The allocation for the current financial year is Rs 5,300 crore. The key objective of PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water-use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water- saving technologies. The programme would also focus on recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices.