Sujala Watershed Project      

 Sujala is a Watershed Development Project designed by the Government of Karnataka and implemented by the Watershed Development Department of Government of Karnataka with tripartite cost-sharing arrangements. The World Bank through International Development Association provided major portion of plan outlay as a loan to Government of India and in turn loan to Government of Karnataka.

      The Government of Karnataka finances some portion of the budget and the Watershed Communities contribute some portion.Sujala a community driven watershed development project with a total budget of Rs.557crores, is being implemented in seven districts, namely Kolar, Chikkabalapur, Tumkur, Madhugiri, Chitradurga, Haveri and Dharwad of Karnataka covering 4.29 lakhs hacter. of land spread over in 77 sub-watersheds and 1270 villages benefiting nearly 4.0 lakhs households including landless. As planned, the project period started from 10.09.2001 and likely to end by 31.03.2009.

The key development objective is to improve the productive potential of selected watersheds and their associated natural resource base, and strengthen community and institutional arrangements for natural resource management. An associated objective is to strengthen the capacity of communities in the project districts for participatory involvement in planning, implementation, social and environmental management and maintenance. The implementing department operates in a more socially inclusive manner, with in the frame work of a convergent watershed development plan. This will be achieved through having the community groups implement the project, the project’s collaborative approach and capacity building initiatives.