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As part of the mission, four departments — Forest, Rural Development (watersheds), Panchayat Raj and Minor Irrigation (irrigation and Command Area Development) will push through the conservation mission.

HYDERABAD, March 24

THE Andhra Pradesh Government, as a part of its water conservation mission through `Neeru-Meeru' programme, is negotiating a Rs 202-crore loan with Nabard to cover 4.7 lakh hectares in about 482 water-stressed mandals in 22 districts.

The Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, said that the State had embarked on a long-drawn water conservation mission and sought the support of the general public and political parties.

Out of the Rs 202-crore Nabard loan, Rs 151 crore would be provided by Nabard and Rs 51 crore would be in the form of rice component under the Food-for-Work programme, he said.

As a part of this water conservation mission, four departments — Forest, Rural Development (watersheds), Panchayat Raj and Minor Irrigation (irrigation and Command Area Development) will push through the conservation mission.

Under the Nabard action plan, emphasis was laid on construction of ground water recharge structures, with major allocations going in for checkdams, percolation tanks, strengthening of tanks and diversion channels and local drains. In addition, from the Central Marketing Fund, Rs 22 crore was given in March 2002 for covering 22 districts except the Hyderabad metropolis.

For Hyderabad, and adjoining urban areas, an additional amount of Rs 206 crore was sanctioned under green Hyderabad Environment Programme by the Netherlands Government for both afforestation of 12,000 hectares of land and development of about 85 water bodies and lakes.

Under the Haritha Project, being implemented by the Tirupathi Tirumala Devasthanam, yet another scheme with Rs 18 crore was designed covering a three-year period from 2000 to 2003 to develop about 30,000 hectares. As a part of this initiative, about Rs 10 crore had already been utilised thus far.

Further, the State Government had earmarked Rs 80 crore for the ambitious Neeru-Meeru programme for the financial year 2002-2003. The State Government, which launched the ambitious Neeru-Meeru phase IV programme in October 2001 would complete it by May.

As part of the water conservation mission, a comprehensive enactment on water, land and tree conservation was planned and a Bill introduced, which sought to create an awareness and commitment on the part of the Government towards the water conservation mission.

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