CM bats for project to link Wainganga, Nalganga rivers


* Industrial and municipal water requirements including those of Nagpur city by the year 2050 are proposed to be served utilising 253 Mm3
* At the price-level of 2007-08, the cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 8,294.26 crore
* Chief Minister urges Union Minister Uma Bharti to declare Lower Painganga as national project
By Kartik Lokhande
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Thursday, met Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and urged her to expedite various irrigation projects in Maharashtra. Fadnavis also requested Uma Bharti to expedite the Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project in Vidarbha, and taking up Lower Painganga in the region as national project.
Already, National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has taken up Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR). Wainganga (Gosikhurd)-Nalganga (Purna Tapi) Intra State Link Project is proposed by Maharashtra Government, and it envisages diversion of 2,721 Mm3 of water from Gosikhurd project across river Wainganga to Western Vidarbha. Of this, 2,207 Mm3 is earmarked for irrigation, 253 Mm3 is planned to be utilised for municipal and industrial purposes in the command areas and remaining 261 Mm3  will be lost in transmission.
As per the details with NWDA, the link canal of Wainganga-Nalganga project takes off from the right flank of Gosikhurd dam and traverses for a length of 478.2 km through Bhandara, Nagpur, Wardha, Amaravati, Akola, and Buldana districts. The link envisages to bring 4,13,750 hectares of culturable command area under irrigation. Besides, it is also proposed to cater to the future municipal and industrial water requirements in the command area and the city of Nagpur. About 22 lakh human population and industrial water requirements by 2050 are proposed to be served utilising 253 Mm3. At the price-level of 2007-08, the cost of the project was estimated to be Rs 8,294.26 crore.
Apart from this project, Fadnavis urged Uma Bharti to take up Lower Painganga irrigation project as ‘national project’ like Gosikhurd. As per the official release, the Union Minister gave a ‘positive response’ to this. The project will extend irrigation benefits to 1,41,000 hectares of area in Yavatmal district, and 58,000 hectares in Chandrapur district. In the same meeting, a ‘mega recharge’ project for Tapi basin also was discussed.
Uma Bharti assured Chief Minister that funds would be released to irrigation projects in Vidarbha under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP). Several projects including Gosikhurd, Lower Wardha, Bembla, Bawanthadi irrigation projects in Vidarbha region will get financial assistance.
Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, Water Supply Minister Babanrao Lonikar, Minister of State (Water Resources) Vijay Shivtare, Chief Secretary Swadhin Kshatriya, Union Secretary (Water Resources) Amarjit Singh, Director General of NWDA Masood Hussain, Water Resources Secretary (Gujarat) S J Desai, Principal Secretary of Water Resources (Maharashtra) Malini Shankar, Principal Secretary (Urban Development) Manisha Mhaiskar, Municipal Commissioner (Mumbai) Sitaram Kunte, Principal Secretary (Finance) Sudhir Kumar Shrivastav, Secretary (Water Supply) Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary (Water Resources) V M Kulkarni, Deputy Secretary Sanjay Kulkarni and others were present prominently in the meeting. 

(08-01-2015)

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