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CHAPTER-8

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.

• For Prompt attention to

problems and resolutions of

disputes.

• For Collective involvement in

better application &

management of agricultural

extension services.

PIM in Odisha

Participatory IrrigationManagement

that was introduced in the state

during 1995 on a pilot basis under

Odisha 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

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Irrigation Projects. Subsequently,

during the year 2000, the water

users association 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 strengthening of Pani Panchayat

programme it was felt that there

should be a legal backing to the

existence of the Pani Panchayts. In

this regard the Odisha Pani

Panchayat Act-2002 came into

force with effect from 15.11.2002

& the Odisha Pani Panchayt Rule-

2003 came into force with effect

from 23.04.2003. Later, necessary

amendment of the Pani Panchayat

Act has been made in the year of

2006,2008 & 2014 and necessary

algorithm has been made in 2013

for better clarification of Act & Rule

of PP.

Structure

Pani Panchayats are farmers’

organizations formed byinvolving

the farmers owning land within

thehydraulically delineated blocks

of 300 Ha. to 600 Ha. in

thecommand area of Major &

Medium Irrigation project.

ThesePani Panchayats

arerepresented by themembers of

various chaks.

A. Farmers Organization is three

tier for Medium & Minor Irrigation

Projects and four-tier for Major

Irrigation Projects, as indicated

below:

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

B. In Lift Irrigation Projects it is a

single tier system i.e. Pani

Panchayat.

Above all, there will be a Stat Level

Committee to lay down policies for

implementation of Pani Panchayat

programme as per the provision of

the Odisha Pani panchayat Act,

2002.

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Medium

PC

P.P

Minor

PC

P.PP.P

L.IMajor

PC

P.P

D.C

C.C C.C C.C

STATE LEVEL COMMITTEE

C.C. : Chak Committee / P.P.: Pani Panchayat / D.C: Distributary Committee

P.C.: Project Committee

PANI PANCHAYAT WUAs structure

Physical Progress

(Formation & Election):

Initially Pani Panchayats were

formed and registered under the

societies Registration Act, 1860.

Now Pani Panchayats are being

formed by conducting election as

per Odisha Pani Panchayat Act,

2002 with amendment Act 2008 &

2014 and Odisha Pani Panchayat

Rules, 2003. Tenure of Pani

Panchayat from three years to six

years has been increased with

effect from 20.01.2009 as per Pani

Panchayat (Amendment ) Act-

2008. By end of March, 2018

election of 27908 Nos Pani

Panchayat have been completed as

per PP Act 2002& PP Rules 2003.

But election of 8954 PPs have been

completed as per PP amendment

Act, 2008 & 2014 under Major,

Medium, Minor & Lift Irrigation

Projects. The details are given

below:

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Table-8.1

Status as on 31.03.2018

Sector Programmed Election held as

per PP Act 2002

& PP Rules 2003

Handed over

under PP Act

2002 & PP Rules

2003

Election held as

per PP

Amendment Act

2008 & 2014

Handed over

under PP

Amendment Act

2008 & 2014

Balance election

to be conducted

Nos Area (lakh Ha)

Nos Area (lakh Ha)

Nos Area (lakh Ha)

Nos Area (lakh Ha)

Nos Area (lakh Ha)

Nos Area (lakh Ha)

Major &

Medium

2641

1168307

2448

1067015

1863

786302

1569

704967

1489

670709

1072

463340

Minor 3056 403707 1883 325831 1883 325831 1963 250546 1963 250546 1093 153161

Lift 24438 536085 23577 519150 24303 532897 5422 108800 5422 108800 19016 427285

Total 30135 2108099 27908 1911996 28049 1645030 8954 1064313 8874 1030055 21181 1043786

Functions:

The functions of Pani Panchayats

have been defined in the Orissa Pani

Panchayat Act-2002 and The Orissa

Pani Panchayat Rules-2003 & PP

amendment Act 2008 & 2014. 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 systemin

the area of its operation at the

end of each crop season and

carryout the maintenance work

with the funds of the Pani

Panchayats from time to time.

● To promote efficient use of water

allotted.

● To resolve the disputes, if any,

between the members and water

users in its area of operation and to

raise resources.

●To assist the Revenue and Disaster

Management Department in the

preparation of demand and

collection of water rates except L.I

projects where the farmers collect

water tax among themselves.

● To regulate the use of

wateramong the farmers at each

outletunder the area of its

operation

according to the

warabandischedule of the system.

CAD - PIM DIRECTORATE

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To provide necessary support to

operationalize 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 concentrated

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 work, CAD (Engg) unit to

look after CAD activities and PPSU

(Pani Panchayt support unit) to look

after the PP formation and

elections, IEC activity, on farm

management, agriculture &

livelihood improvement and

capacity building of PPs including

their functioning in all completed

and ongoing projects under DoWR

in entire state as per following;

1.Construction of Pani

Panchayats Building:

The Government has issued instructions

to provide assistance for construction of

office building for Pani Panchayats

by using the grant given by Govt @

3.00Lakh and if more required it

may be met 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 75 % of the total

number of beneficiaries.

iii) The collection of water rate

for the previous 3 years should

be at least75% of the demand.

iv) The assistance for each PP

office building will be limited

toRs.3,00,000/- (Rupees three

lakh) 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.

vi)The Pani Panchayats concerned

shall Provide land for the building

free of cost or bear the cost of

the land. They are alsofree to

make such other contribution to

the building in cash or in kind as

they may decide.

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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 Government

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 & Co-

ordination Department has

amended ‘Rules and Procedures

for sanction of MLA LAD funds

to make construction of Pani

Panchayat buildings as admissible

project.

Altogether 515Pani Panchayat

have been awarded with office

building grant till end of 2015-

16. Due to enforcement of Model

Code of Conduct of PR election

in 2016 - 17 PP fortnight could

notbe observed. Similarly due to

Bi - election during 2017 - 18

State level PP fortnight could

not be observed and no PP has

beenawarded as best PP.

2. Capacity Building

a.Training & Workshop

Training Programme for capacity

building of P.P office bearers and

officers have been conducted by

WALMI for skill development on

different management activity like:

PP office management, Record

keeping, Conflict Resolution,

Operation & maintenance, Water

Managementand crop Diversification

, effect of Climatic change Gender

issues etc;

b. Training-cum-Exposure visit

Training -cum- Exposure visit for

office bearers & farmers to outside

state have been organized through

ADB assistance to collect the first

hand information & best practices

adopted by farmers of outside states

on different aspects like Water /

Irrigation Management, crop

Management, Input-Output

Marketing , Conflict Resolution,

Record keeping etc;

C. Empowerment of Pani Panchayat

Pani Panchayat empowerment

activities have been implemented

through OIIAWMIP, ADB assisted

Project & RKVY through PPSU.

Further Gender mainstreaming

activities have been undertaken in

the ADB assisted OIIAWMIP project .

d.Training programme on Climate Change

Training programme on Climate

Change have been organized

through RKVY , PPSU for creating

awareness of Pani Panchayat.

3. Mass awareness through

Information Education &

Communication (IEC)

activities

In order to operationalise

different concepts / themes with a

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view to create mass awareness

&consciousness regarding

departmental activities of DoWR

among the general public, Pani

Panchayat & farming community

of Odisha. Forwide publicity of

Programme and policies of

Government different activities

such as Street Play, Message

through Krushaka Bandhu

Arnnapurna, Organization of

Essay Competition,

Advertisement through Mass

media, broadcasting of PP

activities through All India Radio

& Door Darshan, Publication in

PP Samachar, news letter,

Appreciation letter of CM. &

Brouchers have been performed

through different units /

organizations in the year of

2017-18.

4. Celebration of PP Fortnight

Every year Pani Panchayat Fortnight

is celebrated throughout the state

during 16th to 30th January to

popularize Participatory Irrigation

Management among the farming

community in the state .Best

performing Pani Panchayats, best

irrigation projects under Major &

Medium , Minor & OLIC & award to

best Students for Essay Competition

are felicitated by Hon’ble Chief

Minister of Odisha on the closing day

of the fortnight celebration. During

the year 2017-18 , celebration of

Pani Panchayat fortnight could not

be undertaken due to enforcement

of model code of conduct for Bijepur

bi-election.

MONITORING

For effective implementation of PIM,

the programme is monitored

regularly at different levels.

i. The State Government have

constituted a committee of High

Level Working Group on PIM under

the Chairmanship of Chief

Secretary, Odisha.

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. 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.

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STATUS OF of 2017-18

Farmers are being involved in PWT

(Participatory Walk Through) in

preparation of project report

including Micro plan, estimate

Preparation and implementation.

Accordingly under ADB assisted

OIIAWMIP Tranche -1 project, micro

plans of all 121 PPs of 3 Medium & 1

Major irrigation projects have been

completed.

a) Crop diversification& crop

intensification is gradually

increasing in the PP command

area.

b) Tenure of Pani Panchayat from

three years to six years has been

increased with effect from

20.01.2009 as per Pani

Panchayat (Amendment) Act-

2008. By end of March 2018,

27908 Pani Panchayat have

already been formed &

registered by conducting

election.

c) 13210 nos. of farmers belonging

to Pani Panchayats & 805 nos

officers have been provided

training through 180 training

programmes at WALMI.

d) 1057 nos of training

programmes were conducted

through RKVY in 287 Pani

Panchayats under Medium &

Minor Irrigation Projects in 8

districts.

e) Pani Panchayat empowerment

activities in 121 PPs through

OIIAWMIP under ADB & 287 PPs

through RKVY,PPSU have been

implemented .

f) Interactive training programme

on “Climate Change, Livelihood

Enhancement & Agriculture

Intensification” through Pani

Panchayat at campus & project

Site have been organized

through WALMI for raising

awareness of Pani Panchayat.

g) Steps have been taken for

implementation of Gender

mainstreaming activities under

Tranche-II OIIAWMIP as per

Gender Action Plan of ADB.

h) IEC activities have been takenup

to create mass awareness

&consciousness regarding

departmental activities of DoWR

among the general public, Pani

Panchayat & farming community

of Odisha.Details of which is

given below;

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Status of IEC activities 2017-18

Sl.No

IEC activity Physical Financial

Targete Achivement

Target Achivement

1. Street play 100 nos 100 nos 4,00,000 4,00,000

2 Message through krushaka Bandhu Annapurna 10 months 10 months

1,25,000 1,25,000

3 Organization of Essay competition on water quality & conservation, water quality at state & district level among school & college students.

31nos 31nos 9,16,500 9,16,500

4 Broadcasting of Pani Panchayat Katha through AIR. 16 nos 16 nos 5,74,374 5,74,374

5 Telecasting osucess stories and panel discussion through Door Darshan

24 nos 24 nos 11,60,908 11,60,908

6 P.P Samachar,News letters,Appreciation letter of C.M,Brchure, distribution cost including arrear of 2016-17

20,2450 nos 20,2450 nos

1514458 1514458

7 Advertisement & Public message in News paper & magazine including arrear of 2016-17

LS LS 3,08,760 3,08,760

Total 50,00,000 50,00,000

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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PHOTO GALLERY

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Interactive Training on PIM

Weeding by cono weeder

Interactive Training on PIM-Sunei Diversified Cropping -

Weeding by cono weeder-Taladanda

Sunei

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InteractiveTraining at Gandakula Machhagaon (1)

InteractiveTraining at Kanshbahal Dam site (2)

InteractiveTraining at Kaima Jaarka (3)InteractiveTraining at Ramial Dam site (4)

Interactive Training on Irrigation Management, PP Act & Rules, Crop water use and diversification, Gender issues with emphasis on Climate Change. (Photo 1, 2, 3, 4)

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