Devendra Fadnavis vows Pavana-Nigdi water pipeline solutions

PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: The state government will try to find a solution agreeable to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and the farmers of Maval to resume work on the Pavana dam-Nigdi water pipeline project.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis assured this in his speech at Ramkrishna More auditorium in Chinchwad on Wednesday.

“The problems related to the project cannot be solved until the Maval farmers are satisfied. We propose to lay two pipelines — one for providing drinking water and another for irrigation water up to their fields. We will stop the open canals to provide water for irrigation. We have also started work on enclosing the canals with a length of 1,700km in the state,” he said.

Referring to the police firing in which three farmers were killed at Baur in 2011, Fadnavis said there was a need to give jobs to the victims’ kin.

Pimpri Chinchwad mayor Rahul Jadhav emphasized the need for resuming the pipeline project to meet the city’s growing water needs.

The PCMC had started implementing the project in 2009. Around 80% of the 40km pipeline will pass through Maval taluka. The farmers were opposed to the project, fearing that they would get less water from the Pavana river and the river pollution would increase.

The PCMC has completed laying the pipeline in its limits. But it could not be laid in villages in Maval because of the farmers’ opposition.