The Orissa Community Tank Development & Management Society (OCTDMS) have been
formed as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Department of Water Resources, Government of Orissa and to conceptualize and
operationalize the World Bank assisted Orissa Community Tank Management Project (OCTMP) during the year 2006 and is registered under
the Societies Registration Act 1860 at Bhubaneswar. The project envisages execution through primary and secondary institutions from
the State Project Unit to the Community Level Groups with facilitation of Support Organization.
Tank irrigation is one of the oldest methods of irrigation in Orissa. The State has 28,303 tanks approximately, including tanks of
the Government and Private Sector (GoI, Minor Irrigation Census, 2001). About 4141 tanks (2015) irrigating between 40 ha to 2000 ha
of land by these tanks with an irrigation capacity of 5.98 Lakh hectares are being managed by the Minor Irrigation Department.
However, nearly 4.15 lakh hectares of agricultural lands are getting irrigation from these MIPs leaving a substantial gap in
achieving the irrigation as designed for the state.
The major challenges in providing irrigation include the following:
- Lack of proper management of the MIPs
- Most importantly the lack of community participation
