Maharashtra will construct an inter-basin transfer grid, on the lines of Gujarat, to provide water in bulk from surplus areas to arid and drought-affected regions. At its meeting on Tuesday, the Cabinet approved the construction of the first phase of a statewide water supply grid in drought-affected Marathwada.
The grid, to be developed at a cost of Rs. 2,000 crore around the five major river basins in the State, will be completed in the next three years, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said.
A two-member team headed by Mr. Mungantiwar had visited Gujarat to study the grid constructed around the Narmada basin, over 1,20,769 km and serving 70 per cent of Gujarat’s population. “Having a similar grid is the need of the hour in dry areas of the State, which could receive water from the surplus areas,” Mr. Mungantiwar said. “We have recently seen what happened in Latur, where water was supplied through trains; the State cannot afford a similar situation in future.”
The State grid will be constructed around five river basins, beginning with Godavari in Marathwada, receiving water from as far as Konkan, where rainfall is always recorded in a sufficient quantity. The grid will cater to domestic, industrial as well as agricultural needs, senior officials said.
In Gujarat, the grid caters to Saurashtra and Kutch, where dams usually dry up in the summer and rainfall is only 366 mm, lower than the State average of 798 mm. By 2013, the average supply from the grird to Saurashtra and Kutch increased to 1,340 million litres per day from 850 mld in the previous year.
“Nearly 250 villages in Kutch were receiving water from 7,000 tankers, which reduced to less than 100 tankers in 56 villages following the construction of the grid,” Mr. Mungantiwar told the Cabinet in his presentation, which was approved.
The Cabinet also approved connecting the State grid at a later stage to the multi-crore Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) for supply of sufficient water for the industrial locations proposed on the route.
“We are talking of DMIC changing the face of development in the State. But if we cannot supply basic water to DMIC, what change can we bring about in the State?” asked Mr. Mungantiwar.
