Maharashtra government sets 2019 deadline for 3 major Vidarbha irrigation projects

To provide succour to agrarian distress-hit and farmer suicide-affected Vidarbha, the state government has set an ambitious target of completing three major irrigation projects, including the controversial and long-delayed Gosikhurd dam, by 2019.

It is also planning to operationalise around 15 minor and medium irrigation projects in Vidarbha by achieving last-mile connectivity. Vidarbha also happens to be the BJP's stronghold, with 44 of its 122 MLAs hailing from the region.

A senior official said a review of these projects, which have been delayed for decades, was taken in a recent meeting in chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's war room, attended by finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, water resources minister Girish Mahajan, Fadnavis's officer on special duty Kaustubh Dhavse and others.

He added that they planned to complete three large dams, namely Gosikhurd, Bembla and Lower Wardha, by 2019, apart from medium and small dams.

Maharashtra's irrigation coverage is much lower than the national average of about 45% despite having the highest number of dams in India. It also has hundreds of incomplete irrigation projects, with a total balance cost running into thousands of crores.

"In the war room, we took up select projects nearing completion," Mungantiwar told dna. He said some minor and medium projects would be operationalised from 2017, and regular progress monitoring with district collectors will be undertaken. The revised administrative approval for Gosikhurd will be tabled before the state cabinet.

He added that the Gosikhurd project, which will irrigate 2,50,800 hectares across three districts (Bhandara, Nagpur and Chandrapur), was started in 1988 and was expected to be completed 10 years later. Work on the dam, declared a national project in 2009, has seen massive cost overruns too, with costs swelling to Rs18,110 crore, up from the last approved Rs7,778 crore. It now has a new completion target of June 2019.

The story of the two other large dams is no different.

The Lower Wardha project with an irrigation potential of 66,172 hectares in Arvi, Deoli, Wardha and Hinganghat in Wardha district was started in 1981, with an expected completion date of March 1994. However, it is expected to be completed in 2018-19.

The Bembla project, which secured administrative approvals in 1992, with construction beginning the next year, has seen expected costs balloon from the last approved Rs2,176 crore to Rs3,755 crore, of which Rs1,858 crore have been spent. It is expected to be finished in 2018.

Minor and medium projects — Satrapur (Nagpur), Kalpathari (Gondia), Kotgal lift irrigation (Gadchiroli), Dongargaon (Chandrapur), Bawanthadi (Bhandara), Chandrabhagi barrage (Amravati), Kahera (Buldhana), Palaskhed (Washim) and Kohal in Yavatmal — are also proposed for completion by 2019.

Gosikhurd: Will irrigate 2,50,800 hectares, of which 39,176 hectares is achieved.
Lower Wardha: Met just 18,764 hectares of its 66,172-hectare irrigation potential, has an approved cost of Rs2,357 crore.
Bembla: Being built on the Bembla river in the Godavari basin near Khadaksawanga village in Yavatmal, will irrigate 53,968 hectares of which 38,228 hectares have been covered.