Mangaluru : Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim said the fifth minor irrigation census will be held in September.

Chairing a meeting, he said accurate information should be collected and called upon farmers, public and various organisations to join hands in making the census a success.

Minor Irrigation Department Executive Engineer D R Ramachandra, briefing about the census, said the data collected will be utilised for formulating proposals for the development projects.

“It will also be used by the Central Water Commission and the Union Ministry of Water Resources to frame irrigation policies. The projects that are situated on four hectare of land will come under taluk panchayat jurisdiction and up to 40 hectare will come under the ZP jurisdiction. The projects situated in 40 hectare to 2,000 hectare of land will be under the jurisdiction of the Minor Irrigation Department,” he added. “The minor irrigation systems managed by the farmers, cooperative societies, under the ownership of farmers association will be included in the census. The data will be compiled at the village, block and district levels, in coordination with the local bodies. The village accountants gather information on lakes and tanks, open farm wells and borewells, lift irrigation projects and so on,” he informed.

He said the field worker will have to include all the minor irrigation systems in each village. After the field census is complete, Tahsildar and Statistics Inspector will inspect 10 per cent of the irrigation system or at least 300 minor irrigation systems. At the district level the District Statistician/Assistant Director will select minimum five villages or 10 per cent of the project for spot inspection to assess the quality of the census undertaken. All the enumerators will have a one-day workshop by the end of this month,” he added. The last minor irrigation census was held during the year 2005-06.