The Maharashtra government has decided to connect the Paschim Vahini river basin in the Konkan region with Marathwada and other water parched areas in the State under the river-linking project. It has initiated a preliminary study of the project.

Paschim Vahini basin has Ulhas, Vaitarna, Nar-Par and Damanganga rivers and the excess water from these rivers, to the tune of 360 TMC, would be redistributed to other regions of Maharashtra. The Marathwada region is expected to get 25.60 TMC of water. The metropolis of Mumbai will get 31.60 TMC.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, gave the clearance to the project on Tuesday, while chairing the State Cabinet meeting. Earlier, the Maharashtra government was planning to connect the rivers in this basin with the help of the Gujarat government. However, the project was getting inordinately delayed, therefore Chief Minister has given the go-ahead for which State funds would be used, a senior government official said.

The lifeline of Marathwada is the Godavari river, but due to drought in the past few years, the massive Jayakwadi dam is empty this year. If the Godavari gets replenished then the whole region will get rejuvenated, but for that to happen initial surveys and project reports must be fast-tracked.

Marathwada is drought-prone and has been facing drought over the past three years. But due to lack of effective political will and vision, the project implementation was lagging. It is hoped the environment and regional lobbies don’t sabotage the project implementation, the official said.

Also on the cards are linking of Vainganga river basin in Eastern Vidarbha with other regions within Vidarbha, which will provide 100 TMC of water to Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal and Akola.

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