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The Maharashtra Government will not allow use of irrigation water for industrial projects, the Chief Minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, said here on Thursday.
Addressing a water convention organised by the Congress party, he said the future power projects and other industries would not get irrigation water. They will be provided with wastewater for use after recycling.
The Centre can give permission to set up power projects but the granting of permission for supply of water for the projects is entrusted with the State government, he asserted, adding that the State would grant permission for new projects after scrutinising various aspects such as environment, fund for rehabilitation, transmission networks and employment potential.
Mr Chavan also said that the State would not allow any new power project in Vidarbha, which is already home to numerous power plants.
Water policy
Maharashtra is the only State in the country which has a different water policy. “We have now changed the old policy and would see to it that water would be given to farmers on top priority,” he said.
Earlier, inaugurating the convention, the Union Minister for Water Resources, Mr Salman Khurshid, said he would call a meeting of the concerned departments and representatives of the Planning Commission in three weeks' time to deliberate on issues such as the new national water policy, land acquisition and rehabilitation of the project-hit and sustainable development policy.
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