TAMIL NADU GETS FUNDS FOR WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT

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Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs. 328.76 lakh for planning and development of Watershed Projects to various districts of Tamil Nadu during 2003-04.

An amount of Rs. 287.86 lakh has been released to six districts under Drought Prone Areas Programme(DPAP). Out of this amount, Virudhnagar district gets Rs. 108.22 lakh, Trichirapalli - Rs. 6.75 lakh, Tiruvanamalai – Rs. 8.91 lakh, Karur – Rs. 14.36 lakh, Vellore – Rs. 39.88 lakh and Toothkudi district gets Rs. 109.71 lakh for implementation of Watershed Development Programme. The basic objective of the programme is to minimize the adverse effects of drought on the production of crops, livestock and productivity of land, water and human resources thereby ultimately leading to the drought proofing of the affected areas.

An amount of Rs. 40.90 lakh has been released for Watershed Development under Integrated Wastelands Development Project (IWDP) to Madurai district as second instalment of funds.