How PRAGATI Is Powering India’s Irrigation Push
New Delhi, Jan 16 Water shapes India’s farms, food security and rural livelihoods. As climate variability and rising demand put pressure on water resources, strengthening irrigation infrastructure has become a national priority. To meet this challenge, the Ministry of Jal Shakti is using PRAGATI — Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation — to accelerate some of the country’s most critical irrigation and river-development projects.
Large irrigation works often face delays due to land acquisition, inter-state coordination, environmental clearances and funding timelines. By bringing key projects under PRAGATI, the government has enabled direct monitoring at the level of the Prime Minister, ensuring time-bound decisions and faster resolution of long-pending bottlenecks.
Currently, 93 major irrigation and water-resource projects worth about ₹2.86 lakh crore are being tracked on the PMG system. Of these, 44 projects have already been commissioned, while 49 are under active implementation. Ten nationally important projects have been reviewed under PRAGATI, helping unlock stalled investments and push them closer to completion.
The impact is visible on the ground. Issues related to land acquisition, rehabilitation, contract disputes and fund releases — once delaying projects for years — are now being resolved through coordinated follow-up. Overall, more than 80 per cent of identified project issues have been settled, restoring execution momentum.
One standout example is the Bembla Irrigation Project in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region. After years of delays, the project was reviewed under PRAGATI in October 2023. Focused intervention helped resolve land and contractor issues, accelerate canal works and clear distribution-network bottlenecks. The result: Bembla was commissioned in June 2025, bringing assured irrigation and renewed hope to drought-prone farming communities in Yavatmal district.
Together, these projects are expanding irrigation coverage, stabilising command areas and strengthening farm incomes across multiple states. By combining infrastructure development with technology-enabled monitoring and high-level accountability, PRAGATI is quietly transforming how India delivers water security — turning policy intent into results on the ground.
