Analysis MoWR’s Advisory Committee’s Decisions for Northeast – January 2009 to Dec 2013

This is analysis of the decisions of the Advisory Committee in the Union Ministry of Water Resources for consideration of techno-economic viability of Irrigation, Flood Control and Multi Purpose Project Proposals (TAC in short) for North East India[1] from 95^th meeting of January 2009 to 122^nd meeting held in December 2013. In our last analysis of TAC minutes we have covered the decision taken for NE states from July 2011 to December 2013 which  is available at – https://sandrp.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/lack-of-transparency-and-accountability-remains-the-norm-of-functioning-for-mowrs-advisory-committee/. In this analysis, we have covered the same for an extended period. In these five years TAC has accepted project proposals worth of 5515.46 crores. In calculating the total cost of the projects considered we have considered only the projects whose proposals were given clearance by TAC. In these five years, some of the projects also made two appearances with revised costs. In such cases the higher revised cost has been taken into consideration, e.g. Khuga Multipurpose Project and Dolaithabi Barrage Project, both located in Manipur were accepted by the committee in its 100^th meeting (held on 9^th October 2009) with revised cost of Rs 381.28 crore and 251.52 crore respectively. In the 115^th meeting (held on 24^th July 2012) of the TAC, these two projects were considered again where the cost for Khuga Project was Rs. 433.91 cr and for Dolaithabi Project it was Rs. 360.05 Cr. The same is the case for the Thoubal Multipurpose Project which appeared in 101^st and 115^th meeting of the TAC.

Within these five years, TAC has given financial clearance to 26 flood and erosion control projects and majority of these projects are from Assam. The committee gave the clearance to 6 irrigation projects, 3 barrage projects and 3 multipurpose projects.[2] The committee also gave clearance to a strom water drainage improvement project below Greenfield Airport at Pakyong in Sikkim within this period.

In this period, largest no of considered (25) and approved (20) projects were from Assam. Assam also has the maximum cost of projects among all states (Rs. 2631.99 Cr). Highest number of projects were considered (16) and approved (14) in the year 2009, with total cost of Rs 2321 Crores, which too was highest among all the years.

As found in our previous analysis, in the last five year from 2009 to 2013 TAC has not rejected a single project. Five projects had been deferred but were approved in the subsequent meetings within the same period. In the 108^th meeting (held on 4^th January 2011), the TAC did not discuss two projects on the Brahmaputra river stating “It was observed that the flood control and anti erosion scheme of Brahmaputra Board are implemented through Central Fund, which do not require investment clearance from the Planning Commission. Therefore, these schemes need not be put up to the Advisory Committee. However, the technical aspect of such project may be looked into by Central Water Commission as per past practice.”  But both these projects were reconsidered in the 110^th meeting of TAC (held on 20^th July 2011) and were cleared by the committee.

So this seems like a rubber stamping committee, clearing everything that comes to it. Reading of the minutes of the meetings also reveals that there are hardly any critical questions asked on merits of the questions for the massive delay and cost escalations that most of the projects suffer. Nor is there an discussion about the performance of the projects.

As we noted earlier, this committee functions in most non transparent, non participatory and unaccountable way. Neither the minutes nor the agenda notes of the meetings are in public domain. Following our letters along with TAC analysis in April 2011, addressed to Planning Commission, Union Ministry of Water Resources, Central Water Commission and members of the National Advisory Council, for the first time, TAC minutes were put up on CWC website (see: http://www.cwc.gov.in/main/webpages/TAC%20minutes.html). However, the last uploaded minutes were for the 115^th meeting held in July 2012, after which minutes have stopped being uploaded. Secondly, some of the links are not working and all the files are unnecessarily large PDF files since only scanned pages of the minutes are put up, in place of the PDFs of normal word files, which would be of much smaller size. The TAC also has no independent, non government members, all the members are government officials. As we wrote to MoWR and Planning Commission in April 2011 and again in March 2014, there is urgent need for TAC to have  such members so that they provide objective perspective about the projects that come up before TAC.

The importance of functioning of this committee cannot be over emphasised. As we  wrote  in our letter to MoWR and Planning Commission, TAC “considers dozens of such projects with huge economic, social, environmental and other implications for the country in every one of its meetings. All of these projects are supposed to be public purpose projects, and are taken up using public resources. The Planning Commission accords investment clearance to the projects only after the TAC clearance. This Committee’s decisions are perhaps the ones which impact on India as a whole the most – as they relate to land and water – which are the basic life sustaining and livelihood providing resources for the people.”

It is high time that first effective steps are taken to ensure that the functioning of this committee becomes more transparent, participatory and accountable.

State-wise list of projects cleared by TAC

State	No of Projects Considered	No of projects approved	Total cost of the projects
Arunachal Pradesh	4	4	106.6
Assam	25	20	2631.99
Manipur	10	10	2268.99
Meghalaya	1	1	5.63
Sikkim	1	1	48.55
Tripura	6	6	453.7

Note: No projects from Mizoram and Nagaland have come to TAC in this 5 years period.

Year-wise List of Projects Cleared by TAC

Year	No of Projects Considered	No of projects approved	Total cost of the projects
2009	16	14	2321
2010	5	5	663.67
2011	12	9	497.33
2012	5	5	2208.81
2013	9	9	1439.45

Meeting-wise List Projects Cleared by TAC January 2009 to December 2013

Sl. No	Meeting no	Date of meeting	No of projects considered	No projects approved	No of projects deferred	No of projects rejected	Total cost of the accepted projects, Rs Crore
	95th	20.01.2009	4	3	1	0	196.07
	96th	16.02.2009	2	2	0	0	168.14
	100th	09.10.2009	6	5	1	0	264.73
	101st	30.11.2009	4	4	0	0	77.26
	102nd	28.01.2010	1	1	0	0	59.91
	103rd	11.03.2010	1	1	0	0	302.22
	106th	16.09.2010	3	3	0	0	301.54
	108th	04.01.2011	2	0	2	0	0
	109th	04.03.2011	3	3	0	0	70.13
	110th	20.07.2011	5	4	1	0	211.56
	111th	17.08.2011	1	1	0	0	167.09
	112th	14.09.2011	1	1	0	0	48.55
	115th	24.07.2012	5	5	0	0	2208.81
	117th	21.03.2013	1	1	0	0	155.87
	118th	30.07.2013	2	2	0	0	467.38
	119th	29.08.2013	2	2	0	0	601.67
	120th	13.09.2013	1	1	0	0	42.96
	121st	08.10.2013	2	2	0	0	146.01
	122nd	20.12.2013	1	1	0	0	25.56
	Total		47	42	5	0	5515.46

95^th meeting (20.01.2009): Accepted TOTAL – Rs 196.07 crores (revised costs have been taken into consideration)

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Decision
1	Protection of Sialmari Area	Morigaon/ AS	2002	B’putra	14.29 (25.73)	Accepted
2	Protection of Bhojaikhati, Doligaon and Ulubari	AS	2002	B’putra	14.52 (27.92)	Accepted
3	Protection of Majuli Island Ph II-III	AS	New	B’putra	116.02	Deferred the proposal with suggestion to prepare the cost at current prices.
4	Raising & strengthening Dyke from from Sissikalghar to Tekeliphuta including closing of breach by retirement and anti erosion measures	AS	New	B’putra	142.42	Accepted

96^th meeting (16.02.2009): Accepted Total – Rs 168.14 crores

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Decision
1	Flood protection of Majuli Island Ph-II & III	AS	New	B’putra	115.03	Accepted
2	Restoration of Dibang & Lohit rivers to their original courses at Dholla Hattiguli	AS	New	B’putra	23.32(53.11)	Accepted partially & suggested that proposal of coffer dam, pilot channel, etc. may be put up to the Standing Committee for expert opinion

100^th meeting (09.10.2009): Accepted: TOTAL – Rs 897.53 crores

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	L of Dam	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Benefit Irri CCA	Annual Irrigation	Decision
1	Borolia Irrigation Project	AS	1980	Brahmaputra	92 m	6.775 (135.93)	9717	15,000 Ha	Deferred due to non-submission of State Finance Concurrence
2	Khuga Multipurpose (Major- Revised)	Manipur	1980	Khuga/ Imphal	230 m	15 (381.28)	9575	14,755 Ha	Accepted
3	Dolaithabi Barrage Project (Med Revised)	Manipur	1992	Iril/ Manipur	79 m	18.86 (251.52)	5,500	7,545 Ha
4	Gumti Irrigation Project (Revised)	Tripura	1979	Gumti	96 m	5.88 (83.01)	4,486	9,800 ha	Accepted
5	Khowai Irrigation Project (Revised)	Tripura	1980	Khowai	96 m	7.10 (83.01)	4,515	9,320 Ha	Accepted
6	Manu Irrigation Project	Tripura	1981	Manu	82 m	8.18 (98.71)	4,198	7,600 Ha	Accepted

101^st meeting (30.11.2009): Accepted TOTAL – Rs 1059.26 crores

SN	Project	State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	L of Dam	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Benefit Irri CCA/ flood prot.	Annual Irrigation	Decision
1	Raising & strengthening to Puthimari embankment	Assam	New	B’putra	NA	30.23	15000 Ha	NA	Accepted
2	Anti Erosion measures to protect left B’putra Dyke	Assam	New	B’putra	NA	27.97	5000 Ha	NA	Accepted
3	Protection of Gakhirkhitee and its adjoining areas	Assam	New	B’putra	NA	19.06	20,000 Ha	NA	Accepted
4	Thoubal Multipurpose Project (revised)	Manipur	1980	Thoubal/ Imphal	1074 m	47.25 (982)	21,862 ha	33,449 Ha	Accepted

102^nd meeting (28.01.2010): Accepted TOTAL – Rs 59.91 crores

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	Original Cost-CrRs	Benefit-flood protsn	Decision
1	Emergent measures for protection of Rohmoria in Dibrugarh Dist	Assam	New	Brahmaputra	59.91	18,000 Ha	Accepted

103^rd meeting (11.03.2010): Accepted: TOTAL Cost of approved projects: Rs 302.22 crores

Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	L of Dam	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	CCA (Ha)	Annual Irrigation (Ha)	Decision
Champamati Irrigation Project	Chirag/AS	1980	Champamati/B’putra	258.5 m	15.32 (309.22)	17,414	24,994	Accepted

106^th meeting (16.09.2010): Accepted TOTAL – Rs 301.54 crores

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Decision
1	Raising & strengthening of tributary dyke on both banks of Kopili River	Assam	New	Kopilli/ B’putra	110.72	Accepted
2	Assam Integrated Flood River Bank Erosion Risk Management Project	Dibrugarh/ Assam	New	Brahmaputra	61.33	Accepted
3	Assam Integrated Flood River Bank Erosion Risk Management Project	Palasbari/ Assam	New	Brahmaputra	129.49	Accepted

108^th meeting (04.01.2011): Accepted TOTAL- Rs 0

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Decision
1	Restoration of Dibang & Lohit rivers to their original courses at Dholla Hattiguli	AS	New	Brahmaputra	23.32(53.11)	The technical aspect pf this type of project may be looked in to by CWC as per past Practices.
2	Protection of Majuli Island from flood & erosion, Ph II-III	AS	New	Brahmaputra	116.02	The technical aspect pf this type of project may be looked in to by CWC as per past Practices.

109^th meeting (04.03.2011): Accepted TOTAL – Rs 70.13crores

SN	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ Basin	Original (revised) Cost-CrRs	Decision
1	Anti Erosion & Flood Protection work in Dikrong Basin	Arunachal Pradesh	New	Dikrong	23.68	Accepted
2	Anti Erosion & Flood Protection work in Bhareli sub Basin	Arunachal Pradesh	New	Bhareli	16.81	Accepted
3	Anti Erosion & Flood Protection work in Siyom Basin	Arunachal Pradesh	New	Siyom	29.64	Accepted

110^th meeting (20.07.2011): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 211.56 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/State	Appr. year	basin	original cost (Rs. Cr)	decision
1	Anti Erosion & Flood protection in Tawangchu basin	ArP	New	Tawangchu	36.47	Accepted
2	Protection of Majuli from Flood & Erosion Ph II & III	Assam	2011	Brahmaputra	115.03	Accepted
3	Restoration of rivers Dibang and Lohit to their original courses at Dholla Hatighuli	Assam	2011	Brahmaputra	54.43	Accepted
4	Protection of Balat village from flood and erosion of river Umngi in W Khasi hill district	West Khasi hill/Meghalaya	New	Brahmaputra	5.63	Accepted

111^th meeting (17.08.2011): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 167.09 crores

Project	Dist/State	Appr. year	basin	original cost	decision
Protection of Biswanath Panpur including areas of upstream Silamari and Far downstream Bhumuraguri to Borgaon	Sonitpur/Assam	New	Brahmaputra	Rs 167.09 Cr	Accepted

112^th meeting (14.09.2011): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 48.55 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	original cost (Rs. Cr)	decision
1	Improvement of Strom Water Drainage below Greenfield Airport at Pakyong	Sikkim	New	48.55	Accepted

115^th meeting (24.07.2012): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 2208.81 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/State	Appr. year	basin	original cost (Rs. Cr)	decision
1	Thoubal Multipurpose project	Manipur	1980	Brahmaputra	1387.85	Accepted
2	Khuga Multipurpose project	Manipur	1980	Brahmaputra	433.91	Accepted
3	Dolathabi Barrage Project	Manipur	1992	Brahmaputra	360.05	Accepted
4	ERM of Imphal Barrage Project	Manipur	New	Brahmaputra	16.8	Accepted
5	ERM of Sekmai Barrage Project	Manipur	New	Brahmaputra	10.2	Accepted

 

117^th meeting (21.03.2013): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 155.87 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	basin	Ht / L of Dam/Embnk.	original cost (Rs. Cr)	Benefit flood prot. (Ha)	decision
	Protection of Sissi-Tekeliphuta dyke from erosion – Lotasur to Tekeliphuta	Assam	New	Brahmaputra	153 km	155.87	10117	Accepted

118^8h meeting (30.07.2013): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 467.38 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ basin	original cost (Rs. Cr)	Benefit flood prot. (Ha)	decision
	Flood management of Dikrong and river training works on both banks embankment	Lakhimpur/ Assam	New	Dikrong/ Brahmaputra	105.96	9998	Accepted
	Flood management of Ranganadi and river training works on both bank embankments	Lakhimpur/ Assam	New	Ranganadi/ Brahmaputra	361.42	21056	Accepted

119^th meeting (29.08.2013): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 601.67 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/ State	Appr. year	River/ basin	original cost (Rs. Cr)	annual irrigation	decision
	Dhansiri Irrigation project	Assam	1975	Dhansiri/ B’putra	567.05		Accepted
	ERM of Singda multipurpose project	Manipur	New	Brahmaputra	34.62	3000	Accepted

 

120^th meeting (29.08.2013): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 42.96 crores

Project	Dist/State	River	original cost (Rs. Cr)	decision
Anti erosion work along river Haora from Champakpur to Baldakhal	W Tripura	Haora	42.96	Accepted

121^st meeting (08.10.2013): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 146.01 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/ State	River	original cost (Rs. Cr)	Benefit flood prot. (Ha)	decision
	Anti erosion work along river Gumti from Dlak Samatal Para to Durgapur under Amarpur, Udaipur & Sonamura subdivision	S & West Tripura	Gumti	54.99	2209	Accepted
	Anti erosion work along river Khowaii from Netajinagar to Banglahour under Telimura subdivision and from south L. N. Pur to Paharmura bridge under Khowai subvision	West Tripura	Khowaii	91.02	4256	Accepted

122^nd meeting (20.12.2013): Accepted: TOTAL: Rs 25.56 crores

Sl No	Project	Dist/State	River	original cost (Rs. Cr)	decision
	Loktak Lift Irrigation Project	Manipur		25.56	Accepted

 Parag Jyoti Saikia and Himanshu Thakkar

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[1]While this article only contains the details of the North East India Projects considered in TAC for the five years, we hope to soon provide details of the projects considered by TAC from all over India.

[2] Sicne Khuga Multipurpose, Thoubal Multipurpose and Dolaithabi barrage project, all from Manipur appears twice in this period, they have calculated only for once here.

[3] Feature image – Khuga Mutipurpose project. Image courtesy – http://manipuronline.com/