On his first visit to Maharashtra after taking charge as Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation from Uma Bharti, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Gadkari said here on Friday that 40% of the land under cultivation will be irrigated in the state for which the Centre will try to make available ₹55,000 cr. to ₹60,000 cr. in the next two years.
Mr. Gadkari also announced that the state will have two river linking schemes from the ambitious, nation-wide river linking project which will permanently solve the water issues of Marathwada and north Maharashtra. The total expenditure for these two projects is likely to be ₹10,000 crore. “Maharashtra and Gujarat will enter into an agreement for river linking project on September 12-13 and work on it will begin in three months. Damanganga-Pinjal and Tapi-Nar-Par projects will ensure water to north Maharashtra and Marathwada,” Mr. Gadkari said.
The minister added that he and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed 26 pending irrigation projects under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.
“The completion of these projects will clear the irrigation backlog. All these 26 projects will bring five lakh hectare area under irrigation. A special package of ₹10,000 cr. for irrigation in districts suffering from farmer suicides will also be given which will increase the area under irrigation,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
“At present the total area under irrigation is 22% and the state has the potential to grow till 49%. We are hoping to take the percentage to 40% which will also curb farmer suicides by ensuring water to farmers,” Mr. Gadkari said.
Referring to the alleged irregularities in the past in the irrigation projects in the state, Mr Gadkari said that entire process will be transparent, under which money will directly be deposited in the accounts of contractors. BJP had raised the issue of corruption in irrigation projects and had blamed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former deputy CM Ajit Pawar, former Irrigation Minister Sunil Tatkare for alleged irregularities to the tune of ₹70,000 cr.
“The inquiry in this matter is in progress. Charge sheet has been filed in four cases and the pace has not slowed down. One of the charge sheets runs into 30,000 pages. The government is probing in detail,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
Mr. Gadkari who also heads the Union Ministry for Road Transport said Maharashtra will soon have NH of 20,000 km length.
