20,000 villages of Maharashtra to be free of drought by next year, says CM Devendra Fadnavis

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that 20,000 villages in the state would be 'drought free' by next year. 

"Under the JalYuktaShivar program (JYS) 11,000 villages had been made drought free till last year. This year 6,000 more villages will add to this number," Fadnavis said after reviewing water conservation work in Avandhi and Bagalwadi villages of Jat tehsil in Sangli district of Western Maharashtra on Friday.

"People's participation had been instrumental in the success in making these many villages drought free," Fadnavis added.

"No scheme or program becomes successful unless and until it adopts the form of people's movement. Hence, we opened up the JYS to public. It got necessary support from the 'Water Cup' contest of Amir Khan's Pani Foundation. Thanks to the contest, people from thousands of villages in 75 taluka are single-mindedly working on conserving every drop of rainwater that the area around their villages get," Fadnavis said while giving the credit to the Pani foundation.

"The Jat tehsil had been known as a drought hit area for a long time. However, due to water conservation its dependence on water tankers has started coming down in past couple of years. This is a true example of people's power," Fadnavis added.

Fadnavis also participated in "Shramadaan" along with the villagers and also spoke to villagers to get information on water conservation work.