Jal Dharo Jal Bharo

What is Jal Dharo Jal Bharo?

Jal Dharo Jal Bharo: literally "preserve water, reserve water": is the Government of West Bengal's flagship water conservation programme, led by the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department (WRI and DD). The programme began in 2011-12 and has run continuously since as an annual programme of works rather than as a one-time project.

According to the state government's own description of the programme, the objective is to preserve precious water resources by large-scale harvesting of rainwater, to arrest surface water runoff, and to improve water availability by constructing Minor Irrigation structures. Alongside surface storage, Jal Dharo Jal Bharo promotes underground artificial recharge through rooftop rainwater harvesting, and carries a public awareness component on water conservation.

West Bengal receives heavy monsoon rainfall, but much of it runs off within weeks. Ponds and tanks that once held that water silted up over decades, and groundwater in the western and northern districts came under pressure from irrigation demand. Jal Dharo Jal Bharo responds by putting the storage back, re-excavating existing tanks and ponds whose water-holding capacity has fallen, building new detention structures, and desilting canals.

Core components

• Excavation and re-excavation of ponds, tanks and reservoirs whose holding capacity has declined.
• Canal renovation and desilting to retain water in the channel network.
• Water detention structures, check dams, small storage structures and minor irrigation works; to slow surface runoff.
• Rooftop rainwater harvesting feeding artificial recharge structures.
• Awareness building around water conservation.

Who benefits from Jal Dharo Jal Bharo?

Jal Dharo Jal Bharo is a community infrastructure programme, not a personal benefit scheme. There is no cash transfer to a named beneficiary and no individual application form.

Who the programme reaches:

• Farmers in the command area of a renovated pond or tank, who get protective irrigation during dry spells.
• Fish farmers, because ponds created and renovated under the programme are used for pisciculture. The West Bengal Fisheries Department runs a dedicated programme for fish cultivation in ponds created under Jal Dharo Jal Bharo, opening an additional income stream for poor farmers.
• Rural workers, since the earthwork is labour-intensive and generates wage employment, particularly where the work is executed in convergence with the rural employment programme.
• Households and livestock keepers, who get year-round water for domestic use and animal husbandry.

Who cannot apply:

• An individual cannot apply for a personal grant, subsidy or cash payment under Jal Dharo Jal Bharo. Anyone offering to "register" you for a Jal Dharo Jal Bharo cash benefit is not describing the real programme.
• A private landowner is not eligible to have a purely private pond excavated at state cost with no community access or public purpose attached.
• Proposals outside the mandate of the WRI and D Department — piped drinking water supply, for instance, are not taken up under this programme; drinking water supply is handled by the Public Health Engineering Department.

How much work has been done under Jal Dharo Jal Bharo?

The programme reports its output in structures rather than rupees per beneficiary.

The pattern in those numbers is worth reading. The majority of structures come not from the WRI and D Department's own works but from convergence. The department sets the technical direction and the Panchayats and Rural Development Department and the rural employment programme supply much of the execution and the wage funding.

How to get work taken up under Jal Dharo Jal Bharo

1. Raise the proposal locally. Identify the pond, tank, canal stretch or detention site at the Gram Sansad meeting, and have the Gram Panchayat pass a resolution proposing the work.
2. Establish the land position. Confirm whether the site is common land, khas land or private land, and obtain the landowner's consent in writing where the water body lies in a private holding.
3. Forward the proposal to the Block. The Gram Panchayat routes the resolution through the Block office, which consolidates proposals for the block.
4. Technical appraisal by the WRI and D Department. The district office of the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department assesses feasibility, catchment, expected storage and cost, and prepares the estimate.
5. Inclusion in the annual plan of works. Approved proposals enter the district's annual programme, and funding is arranged either from the department's own head or through convergence with the rural employment programme.
6. Execution and measurement. Earthwork is carried out, with wages paid to job card holders where the work runs in convergence, and the completed structure is measured and recorded.

For the rooftop rainwater harvesting component, the route is different: an institution, office or building owner takes up a recharge structure with technical guidance from the WRI and D Department, rather than through the Panchayat works route.

How do you check whether a proposal has been taken up?

Progress on a Jal Dharo Jal Bharo work is tracked at the Gram Panchayat and Block level, not through a public citizen portal. The Gram Panchayat office holds the list of works sanctioned for the year and their stage. For technical questions; why a site was found unsuitable, or how the estimate was framed, the district office of the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department is the right place to ask. The department's annual reports, published on wbwridd.gov.in, carry district-level achievement tables.

Why are proposals turned down?

• Land title not clear, or the private owner refuses to accept community use conditions.
• Site technically unsuitable: no catchment feeding the pond, or soil that will not hold water.
• Duplication, where the same water body is already listed for renovation under another programme.
• Cost out of proportion to the storage or command area the work would create.
• Proposal outside the department's mandate, such as a drinking water distribution request, which belongs with the Public Health Engineering Department.

What happens after a pond is renovated?

The value of Jal Dharo Jal Bharo depends on what the community does with the water body afterwards. State documents point to three uses that follow naturally: protective irrigation for the surrounding fields during dry spells, pisciculture in the renovated pond, which the Fisheries Department supports with its own programme, and domestic and livestock use through the year. Silt clearance has to be repeated periodically, and Gram Panchayats that budget for maintenance keep the storage capacity they gained.

Where do you get information or raise an issue?

• Programme page: wbwridd.gov.in/jal_dharo_jal_bharo, on the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department website.
• State scheme page: wb.gov.in, under government schemes.
• Local route: Gram Panchayat office, then the Block office.
• Technical route: the district office of the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department.
• Fisheries linkage: the Department of Fisheries, West Bengal, for pisciculture in ponds created under the programme.

Jal Dharo Jal Bharo carries no application fee, because there is no individual application. Any demand for money to "get your pond included" is not part of the programme.