PATNA, Oct. 23 -- The Bihar rural development department ( RDD) has started a water budget exercise in all panchayats to assess the consumption of water based on population as well as water used for various purposes including irrigation in a bid to make a comprehensive plan to formulate new initiatives for water conservation to be implemented under project of V B G RAM G(Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) scheme, officials in the know said. The survey for water budget - covering all 8,000 plus panchayats in the state - would be completed by December end this year and subsequently, the report would be put in the VB-NRIS(Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack), officials said. "The idea is to make a detailed study on what is the volume of water consumption in the rural areas for various purposes be it drinking water, irrigation, cattle and how much is extracted for other purposes. Once we get the data, we can take up schemes for water conservation in districts where water is deficient as well as also take up schemes for water harvesting in other districts," said a senior RDD official. In Bihar, there were around 475 blocks that fall in the category of having safe water level whereas another 46 blocks had water level below the prescribed limits falling in severe category, officials said. The water budget exercise started from October 2. RDD offiicals said all the new projects for water conservation and rain water harvesting would be implemented as per the Viksit gram panchayat plan to be approved by the gram panchayat representatives based on the need. Meanwhile, the RDD has launched infrastructure related works in 22 flood-hit districts and 16 districts hit by drought conditions under VB G RAM G scheme so that workers get proper employment and also damaged infrastructure could be repaired in the affected districts. RDD officials said the districts affected had already suffered crop damages and also damage to roads, bridges requiring immediate repair. The lifting of restrictions for any infrastructure related work in the districts during the agricultural period from October 22 to December 10 would enable workers including those returning home during festival time to get employment and also help in restoring the damaged assets, according to officials in the know. Rural development department minister Shravan Kumar,in a press statement, said, "Bihar has been affected by flood disasters. Roads, bridges, culverts, pathways, embankments and other infrastructure have suffered extensive damage. "It is essential to repair and restore the damaged infrastructure so that development activities can be accelerated," he added. RDD officials said, in view of the prevailing disaster conditions, the work-break period for agriculture activities had been relaxed to ensure that workers can receive up to 125 days of wages under the employment guarantee programme. The primary objective of a village-level water budget is to conduct a scientific assessment of annual water requirements against the total available water from various local sources....