Maha govt working to mitigate Marathwada water scarcity, says Jayant Patil

The Maharashtra government is taking steps to help Marathwada overcome water scarcity, including modernizing the canals of Jayakwadi Dam to help tail-end farmers, state irrigation minister Jayant Patil said here on Sunday.

He and the state irrigation department secretary were felicitated here for sanctioning the disbursal of 19.29 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) water from Godavari Basin and 44.54 TMC from Penganga Basin for Marathwada.

''In last rainy season, 550 TMC of water flowed from Marathwada to the neighboring state. The state government is taking effective steps to make water available for Marathwada. The new allotments of water will help overcome scarcity. I have given the nod today to undertake water works in Nanded as well,'' he said.

''The government has given sanction to undertake surveys of the 132 kilometre right and 208 km left canals of Jayakwadi and modernize them in the next three to four years,'' he added.

State Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde, who was present on the occasion, said water must be available in the region even if it doesn't rain, so that sugarcane workers do not have to go in search of work anywhere else.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the economy of several districts in the region was dependent on agriculture, while Sandipan Bhumre said the land irrigated by Jayakwadi had come down from 2 lakh hectares earlier to 80,000 hectares now.

There is need to give water by turns from the upper projects to Jayakwadi by February in case of scarcity, Bhumre added.

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