Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s flagship Jalyukta Shiwar scheme, designed to battle the drought in the state, has claimed to have stored enough water to irrigate around six lakh hectares of land.
According to data provided by Water Conservation minister Ram Shinde, in 2015-16, the scheme was initiated in over 6,202 villages across the state. Last year, the government spent over Rs. 2,000 crore to complete 2,03,070 works under the scheme including widening and deepening of river beds and nullahs, farm ponds etc. Interestingly, the people’s participation last year was worth Rs. 480 crore.
“We have been successful in creating water storage of around 11,61,626 TCM which can cater to the irrigation needs of farm land of around six lakh hectare,” said Mr Shinde. He added that the rains have helped ensure success of the scheme. In the current financial year, works are on in around 5,281 villages and in the first two months of April and May, the government claims to have completed 29,487 works. “We have decided to complete the pending works by December 2016. We have also decided to not give any extension to the pending work above March 2017,” he said.
Till date, Rs. 1,000 crore has been allotted to the Jalyukta scheme in the current fiscal, 60 per cent of which has been utilised. A special package of Rs. 725 crore has been proposed from the contingency fund as the scheme is meant to tackle drought in the State.
Sources said the government is planning to attract Rs. 1,500 crore from the corporate social responsibility funds of various companies, temple trusts and individuals.
