The state government has decided not to give approval to any new mega-irrigation projects so as to complete all the irrigation projects undertaken in the last several years.
The state government has decided not to give approval to any new mega-irrigation projects.
Reason: The chief minister has instructed the government to make a huge investment of Rs 80,000 crore to complete all the irrigation projects undertaken in the last several years.
As the annual budget allocation for the irrigation department does not exceed Rs7,000 crore to Rs8,000 crore, the state will take at least 10 years to complete the ongoing projects.
In a candid admission, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan indicated that somewhere the policy-making in irrigation sector appears to have “needs reforms”.
So, the state government has decided not to promote new projects which are often driven by political compulsions.
Chavan wants the government to first tackle the incomplete projects to ensure agriculture land is not deprived for want of water. While admitting that 57% of the people in state are still dependent on agriculture what worries the government is the non-irrigated land.
Expressing satisfaction with the overall growth rate in agriculture sector, Chavan said: “The plight of farmers, especially in the cotton-growing belt of Vidarbha, drives them to suicide and this remains a big challenge to the state administration. Several expert committees have studied the matter, but we have to still work out a solution.”
Like their counterparts in western Maharashtra, farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada will have to adopt allied businesses to ensure flow of cash.
In western Maharashtra, farmers engage in milk production (dairy) and poultry to ensure sustained income even if they make losses in case of poor harvest.
Chavan said loans and relief packages alone cannot help overcome the financial crisis that forces farmers to end lives. “We are confronted with the challenge of massive stretch of non-irrigated land. The Centre needs to reckon this aspect in case of Maharashtra. The Centre also needs to do away with the restrictions on export of produce such as sugar, cotton and onions. Instead, taxes on export of goods can be a way to tackle the situation arising out of shortage of produce,” he said.
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