Maharashtra: Water supply from dam to Baramati restored

Last June, the Fadnavis government had cleared a proposal of the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) to cut off the supply of “unutilised” water from Nira Deoghar dam to parts of Baramati, Indapur and Purandar in Pune district.

The cabinet Wednesday overturned the previous regime’s move to cut off supply of unutilised water from the left bank canal of Nira-Deoghar dam to NCP president Sharad Pawar’s pocketborough of Baramati, and parts of Indapur and Purandar in Pune district. The Indian Express on Wednesday had reported about the government’s plan.

Ahead of Assembly polls, the Fadnavis regime in June 2019 cut off supply of the “unutilised” water from the dam to these parts contending that these areas were situated outside the notified command area of the dam.

While the dam was constructed in 2007, its distribution canal network work has been mired in delays. Since 2007, the unutilised water from the dam had been moved to the left and right bank of the existing canal of another dam in the same valley. In what was then seen as a political setback to Pawar, the previous government had announced discontinuation of the supply to the left bank that took water to Baramati, Indapur, and Pune, proposing to move all the water to the right bank through lift irrigation.

Ranjitsinh Naik-Nimbalkar, BJP MP from Madha (Solapur), a parliamentary constituency previously represented by Pawar himself, had even alleged that the NCP leadership had been behind subversion of rules (in 2007) to divert 60 per cent of the water to the left bank, depriving drought-prone tehsils in Solapur and Satara.

On Wednesday, the Thackeray cabinet cited technical challenges to overturn these changes.

In another welfare initiative, the government announced to provide free eye glasses to schoolchildren in all aided and unaided schools across the state.