Nagpur: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said funds may be needed to complete ongoing infrastructure projects in the state but the allocation will be only done considering the state government’s financial position.
The CM on Friday visited the sites of Gosikhurd dam project in Bhandara and Chandrapur. He said the project will be completed in the next three years and assured that enough fund allocation will be done.
Thackeray is reviewing projects under way in the state by visiting the sites. He had started off last month ith Samruddhi Mahamarg connecting Nagpur and Mumbai. It is the pet project started by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The CM also stressed that the state government will try to finish the projects in time overcoming all the hurdles. “This is because delays will only increase the burden on the state’s exchequer,” he said.
He directed the officials to submit a report on the planning and money needed for the works on the basis of which funds would be allocated, said a press release issued by the state’s directorate of information.
The CM also issued strict instructions to ensure that the Gosikhurd waters are not polluted by the flow from Nag river. The work on the project was further delayed due to Covid, said source.
The Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) needs Rs1,500 crore a year on an average to complete the project. This financial year, however, the corporation got Rs834 crore only.
Sources in VIDC said the projects can be completed in time without any further cost escalation if sufficient fund allocation is made for time to time.
Thackeray directed the VIDC officials to resolve the issues of project affected persons (PAPs). The project has affected more than 14,000 families out of which 11,000 have been rehabilitated, the officials told the CM.
The compensations to PAPs have been granted as per the laws and if at all there are any demands it may be over and above, a source told TOI.
The CM’s visit was also marked by protests by a group of farmers led by Congress activist Govind Bhendarkar, who stopped the cavalcade. They were protesting against the delay in completion of the Ghodazari canal which is a part of right canal of Gosikhurd project. It is located at Nagbhid taluka of Chandrapur district.
Thackeray got down from his vehicle and assured the protesters that their concerns will be addressed. Bhendarkar said the work on the canal had started in 2006, “yet 14 years down the lines hardly any irrigation has happened”.
The canal is supposed to irrigate 34,000 hectares of land. A number of contractors have left leaving the work midway, he said.
Chimur BJP MLA kept out of CM visit targets Wadettiwar
Kirtikumar Bhangadia, the BJP MLA from Chimur, has alleged that he was deliberately kept out even as the chief minister was visiting the Gosikhurd project sites located in his constituency. Bhangadia alleged this happened at the behest of his political rival Vijay Wadettiwar, the Congress leader who is the relief and rehabilitation minister in the MVA government.
Bhangadia had filed a complaint against Wadettiwar alleging that he had not disclosed criminal cases against him while applying for a passport. This has led to Wadettiwar’s passport being impounded.
The BJP MLA said it was a breach of protocol to have not called him and would be taking this up with the CM.