Wainganga-Nalganga river interlinking project aims to benefit Washim too: Fadnavis
| Date :28-Dec-2022 |
Staff Reporter
Reiterating commitment to undertake ambitious Wainganga-Nalganga river interlinking project, Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Development and Command Area Development Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, the expected expenditure is around Rs 82,000 crore. The project, when completed, will be a boon for the drought-prone areas of Eastern and Western Vidarbha and stands to benefit districts of Bhandara, Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Akola and Buldhana. He was replying to a call attention motion by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Buldhana Shewta Mahale who sought bringing Maan and Painganga under the ambit of the Wainganga-Nalganga project to ensure entire Buldhana district got benefited.
Tabling the motion, Mahale raised the issue in Legislative Assembly and pleaded for taking off the water from Khamgaon tehsil to Maan and Painganga. This would include addition of 47 kms of canal network so that areas of Buldhana, Washim, Yavatmal and Chandrapur can benefit. Most of the portion, she mentioned, lies upstream on hill areas and should not be left out of the ambit of the project. The young legislator made a studied speech on the irrigation matter and added further that Wainganga-Nalganga project has capacity to transform the length and breath of entire Vidarbha region. With assured availability of water, farmers can take two to three crops per year which Mahale said would bring prosperity to region.
Accepting the contention, Fadnavis pointed out that State Government has received technical feasibility report from National Water Development Agency (NWDA) and now nod from Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) remains to be taken. Making one major announcement, he said State is planning to reach upto Washim district and further ahead to Hingoli and Parbhani taking into current surplus water in Wainganga river basin. Further State Level Technical Cell (SLTC) is also studying the NWDA report wherein plan is to lift 1772 ten million cubic meters of excess water through 426.54 km long canal network. For the same there will be lift irrigation scheme at Buldhana to reach Washim from where through gravity water will be distributed further ahead.
The Deputy Chief Minister further said that most of the canal network would be through tunnel and perhaps one of the longest in country could be part of the project, about 426 km. To avoid contentious land acquisition, there is a plan to go for tunnel and piped distribution network.
As per the plan, the excess water from right bank canal of Gosikhurd project, can be located on Wainganga river in Godavari basin in Bhandara district to Tapi basin in Buldhana district. In all about 3,71,277 Ha of land can be brought under irrigation through the project. Further explaining the project details, Fadnavis said in the plan at 41 places water storages are planned, 10 already exists and 31 new small dams would be constructed.
During Kharif and Rabi seasons 1,286 ten million cubic meters of water will be available and 32 ten million cubic meters would be reserved for drinking water supply and 397 ten million cubic meters for industries.
The technical clearance needed for the project envisaged 75 per cent guarantee of water flow but Gosikhurd alone did not have that much spare quantity and it was estimated at 896 ten million cubic meters. Hence nod has been received for diverting the unused water flow of Madhya Pradesh. So based on the calculation, the Chief Engineer, Hydrology and Dam Safety, Nasik, has now provided certificate about available of 1772 ten million cubic meters of assured water, thus fulfilling requirement of 75 per cent to ensure funding.