Significant Progress in Bihar's Water Life Greenery Campaign
Bihar's Water Life Greenery Initiative Achieves Major Milestones
The Small Water Resources Department has successfully completed 95% of the projects approved under the Water Life Greenery campaign initiated by the state government six years ago. This announcement was made by the honorable minister, Dr. Santosh Kumar Suman, during a press conference held at the Information Building on Wednesday. He highlighted that the department is actively working on two ambitious projects under the surface irrigation scheme: the Water Life Greenery campaign and the 'Water for Every Field' program.
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Dr. Suman stated that the Water Life Greenery campaign was launched in 2019, with a total of 2,537 projects receiving administrative approval until the financial year 2025-26. Out of these, 2,371 projects have been completed, enhancing irrigation capacity over approximately 251,962 hectares and restoring around 1,094 million cubic meters of water storage capacity. Additionally, for the financial year 2026-27, a proposal for 154 projects with an estimated cost of ₹206.39 crores has been sent to the finance department for NABARD approval. Completion of these projects is expected to develop irrigation capacity over 16,585 hectares. Given the positive impact of the implemented projects, the state government has decided to extend this campaign from 2025 to 2030.
The minister further mentioned that under the 'Water for Every Field' program, a total of 2,256 projects received administrative approval until the financial year 2025-26, with 1,837 projects already completed. These completed projects have restored irrigation capacity over 227,763 hectares.
Chief Minister's Private Tubewell Scheme Benefits 35,000 Farmers
Minister Suman noted that under the Chief Minister's Private Tubewell Scheme, financial assistance has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of 35,000 farmers for installing private tubewells, enabling irrigation for approximately 175,000 hectares of land.
He also mentioned that during the progress journey, the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the construction of four check dams and two Ahar-Pain in the districts of Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Gaya, and Nalanda. The total estimated cost for these projects is ₹87.058 crores, and their implementation is progressing rapidly, which will create irrigation capacity over 3,730 hectares. The positive effects of the surface irrigation schemes implemented by the department have been observed in the groundwater levels.
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The minister emphasized that the Chief Minister is personally monitoring these projects. The department is focused on enhancing the development and economic conditions of farmers in the state. Efforts are being made to provide water in drought-prone areas of South Bihar, and encroachments on Ahar-Pain are being removed. Currently, 5,558 government tubewells are operational, and efforts are underway to reactivate non-functional tubewells. Under the Prime Minister's Agricultural Irrigation Scheme, a proposal for 105 projects with an estimated cost of ₹274.834 crores has been submitted to the Central Water Commission in Patna. Once approved, these projects will be implemented, creating irrigation capacity over 21,490 hectares. Present at the event were the department's secretary, Mr. B. Kartikeya Dhanji, additional secretary Ms. Sangeeta Singh, additional secretary Sushant Kumar, chief engineer Sunil Kumar, and other officials.