Kolkata: The successful promotion of Water Users Association (WUA) by the Mamata Banerjee government has been acknowledged by the Union Ministry of Jalshakti with all the three national water awards for 'Best WUA Category' being bagged by three WUAS in the state.
The WUAs are promoted by the state Water Resources Investigation & Development (WRI&D) department under World Bank-supported West Bengal Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation Project (WBADMIP) for ensuring better operation and maintenance of irrigation structures.
The first prize that includes a citation and cash awards of Rs 2 lakh have been bagged by Panchgachiya WUA in Hooghly, the second prize of Rs 1.5 lakh has gone to Hatinada Champabaha WUA in Purulia and the third having a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh has been bagged by...Amtore Mini River Lift Irrigation WUA of Purulia. These awards are given by Ministry of Jalshakti, Government of India to encourage and recognise individuals and organisations doing exemplary work in the field of water resources management.
The WRI&D department after completion of the minor irrigation infrastructure in the form of check dam, tubewell etc hand over the command area to be served by such infrastructure to the farmers organising them in the form of WUA.
The WUAs are registered under Societies Registration Act 1961. Following this, the WUAs are provided training regarding the best agriculture or fishery practices that can be taken up in their respective command area.
They are also provided with seeds, fertiliser or similar assistance so that they can carry out operation and maintenance on their own without any hassle.
The WUAs distribute water, resolve conflicts, if any, collect water charges for the water services provided to its beneficiaries on agriculture, horticulture & fishery purposes.
WUA size varies across the agro-climatic regions with 40-50 average members. Minimum 15 members in the hills to maximum 120 members in the Coastal Saline zone.
More than 2444 WUAs were formed and strengthened under the WBADMIP project. As many as 2,028 WUAs have started providing paid irrigation water services to more than 1,23,339 farmers in approximately 75,000-hectare irrigation potential areas. About 64 per cent WUAs are rated grade A/B are effectively functioning and can meet their operating expenses.
"The promotion of WUAs is a significant stride towards community empowerment and an excellent participatory model. Once WUA is formed the Agriculture department also chips in with sprinklers and other modern equipment which are an essential component of modern agriculture," a senior official of the WRI&D department said. The WUAs that have created a corpus fund of more than Rs 4 crore have spent about Rs 22 lakh to help needy people during the Covid pandemic situation, including Rs 2 lakh donation to government relief funds.
"The WUA corpus has been used as a revolving fund to meet the development needs during the Corona crisis," the official added.