903 irrigation projects junked, most in western Maharashtra

Maharashtra government cancels 903 minor irrigation projects worth ₹19,721 crore, sparking potential political tension ahead of local elections.

MUMBAI: The BJP-led Mahayuti government has scrapped 903 minor irrigation projects in the state, a move likely to become a political flashpoint with opposition parties ahead of local body elections later this year.

Water is flowing from a large pipe into an irrigation canal. The focus is on the water coming out of the pipe. There is wheat crop and trees in the back ground and they are blurred. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday cancelled approvals for micro and small irrigation projects worth ₹19,721 crore as none of them had taken off. Approved between 2020 and 2023, some of them had been sanctioned by the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, even as 1,000 more minor irrigation projects with an allocation of ₹1,000 crore are likely to be struck off the list.

Most of these projects are in Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha, largely in constituencies held by leaders from opposition parties. Almost half of them, 416 projects, are in Ahilynagar (previously Ahmednagar) district. These were approved by the previous MVA government.

The project cost of each ranges between ₹2.25 crore and ₹58 crore. They consist of watershed development schemes, percolation tanks, reservoirs or storage tanks and Kolhapur-type weirs.

“The projects could not take off for reasons such as failure to acquire land, opposition by villagers and contractors’ failure to begin the work. This has led to a swollen list of incomplete projects. They also constitute budgetary funds that are unutilised. Due to this, the department cannot allocate funds for new projects. Pruning the list of projects under utilisation has been undertaken on the directives of the CM,” said the government resolution issued by the soil and water conservation department.

According to officials from the department, some of these projects were technically flawed. In some cases, approval had been given without conducting a feasibility and technical survey of the sites, while in other cases they had been allotted to ineligible contractors.

Social activist and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Vijay Kumbhar has raised some concerns. “While it’s okay to scrap projects that failed to take off, the government should take action against the people responsible for this failure. The government should also make sure that villages meant to benefit from these projects are assigned substitute projects so that farmers are not deprived of irrigation,” he said.