INSTITUTIONALIZING USER’S PERSPECTIVE IN DECENTRALIZED IRRIGATION REFORMS IN PUNJAB

Author(s) : Muhammad Ajmal Bhati

Abstract:

Irrigation systems play an important role in the national economy from the food and water security perspectives. The chief objective of any such system is the provision of equitable, reliable, and timely supply of irrigation water to the farmers. Traditionally the water sector is managed by the centralized irrigation bureaucracy with marginal involvement of the water users in Punjab. There had been many efforts by the Government of Punjab, in collaboration with donor agencies, to reform the irrigation system. The first major reform, led by the World Bank, was the introduction of the Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Act 1997 (PIDA) to revamp irrigation networks, decentralization of decision-making, creation of water markets and inducting water-related public utilities. It promoted the internationally tested and trialled best model of Irrigation Participatory Management (IPM) that essentially involves the water users in the decision-making conduits. The users took this reform as a positive step towards an equitable and timely supply of water for agricultural purposes, however, the irrigation bureaucracy viewed it as a power-stripping intervention. For 22 years of the reform period, this reform gained some initial successes but failed to institutionalize the user’s angle. Quoted as the reform is wrought with snags, it fell short of achieving its desired outcomes, and was finally replaced with the Punjab Khal Panchayat Authority Act 2019 (PKPA). With this new enactment, the role of the water users was merely reduced to helpers of the irrigation managers rather than partners in management, O&M and upkeep of distributaries and outlets. This research endeavour analyzes introduction of this reform, its uptake and failure that ultimately led to its reversal and recommends for re-introduction of such reforms by placing the user’s perspective at the centerstage for ensuring the prospects of equitable and timely supply of water to the farmers.