'White paper on irrigation in winter session'

The state's embattled water resources minister Sunil Tatkare told the state assembly on Wednesday that a white paper on irrigation would be tabled before the legislature in the winter session.

The state's embattled water resources minister Sunil Tatkare told the state assembly on Wednesday that a white paper on irrigation would be tabled before the legislature in the winter session.

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Tatkare said the white paper would lay down not only statistics of funds utilised and the irrigation potential created over the last decade, but also outline an overall policy to complete pending projects to the tune of Rs. 75,000 crore. He refuted allegations made by the Opposition that there had been only a 0.1% increase in area under irrigation in the last decade, and said nearly 29.55lakh hectares had been brought under irrigation, a hike of 5.17%.

Tatkare also announced that his department would issue a notification on Friday that made it mandatory to issue a separate tender if the cost of the project had been revised for any reason.

Irrigation projects like Kondhane, Balganga have been under scanner as their project costs were escalated to 150% and 500% post administrative approvals. Tatkare also defended himself against the Opposition's accusations of graft, adding that he was open to a probe into the allegations.