Maharashtra government sanctions revised budget of 11,736 crore for two-decade-old Marathwada dam

The Krishna-Marathwada irrigation project was first approved by the state back in 2003-04 and its estimated cost was ₹2,383 crore.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday gave a revised administrative approval for the two-decade-old Krishna-Marathwada irrigation scheme in Marathwada region. The state cabinet has sanctioned ₹11,736 crore as the revised cost of the project, which is almost five times the original cost. This is the second revised administrative approval given to the project, whose cost has increased by close to ₹7,000 crore in the last 14 years.

The project is aimed at irrigating over one lakh hectares of land in the drought-prone Marathwada region

Revised administrative approval had become a contentious issue after an irrigation scam worth thousands of crores was unearthed in the erstwhile Congress-NCP government in 2012. Krishna-Marathwada was one of the 242 irrigation projects over which the then Maharashtra government was indicted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in his 2013 report for serious cost and time overruns.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, a vocal voice against the scam and revised administrative approvals given by the then government, said that they never objected to it. “We have never objected to approving revised administrative approval. Our objection was spending crores on projects without taking revised administrative approval, which is an irregularity,” Fadnavis told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

The Krishna-Marathwada irrigation project was first approved by the state back in 2003-04 and its estimated cost was ₹2,383 crore. In 2008-09, after the first revised administrative approval, its cost went up to ₹4,845 crore. “The current revised administrative approval to the project of ₹11,736 crore means that the cost of the project has increased by ₹6,891 crore in the last 14 years,” said officials from the water resources department.

“The project will help in bringing 1.24 lakh acres of land under irrigation. It will benefit Paranda, Bhoom, Kalamb, Washi, Tuljapur, Lohara and Omerga talukas of Osmanabad district and Ashti taluka of Beed district,” the deputy chief minister said. “Once completed, it will help in tackling the problem of drought in the suicide-prone Marathwada region,” added a senior official from the water resources department.