Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: As the storage of Jayakwadi dam has reached close to 100 per cent, there has been a competition between Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders for performing water puja at Jayakwadi dam in Paithan.
This has seen political interference and the anger of the sons of the soil. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the Water Resources Minister in the Mahayuti Government, performed Jalpooja at the Jayakwadi dam on July 31. However, the leaders of MVA strongly opposed this water pooj, saying that the same minister had previously objected to Marathwada's share of water.
In response to this, a formal water pooja was performed at Godavari, at 10 am, on Sunday, by the sons of Marathwada on behalf of MVA, who agitated for the water of the region.
MP Dr Kalyan Kale, former MP Chandrakant Khaire, former Minister of State Anil Patel, former MLA Sanjay Waghchoure, Congress State unit secretary Ravindra Kale, Congress District President Kiran Patil Dongaonkar, UBT deputy city chief Dattatray Gorde, tehsil president Vinod Tambe, Manoj Pere, its city president Nimesh Patel, Kanchan Chate, Umesh Pandure, Sambhaji Kate, Rakhi Pardeshi, adv. Kishore Vaidya and Ajay Paralkar were present. They are determined to worship Godavari Mata and fight for water rights by offering sarees and cholis in the dam area.
Many questions were raised as all the administrative officers of the tehsil were absent during this water pooja ceremony. The opposition raised the question of whether the administration bends under pressure from the government.
Box
Anil Patel's angry accusation
Former Minister Anil Patel said that when they protested to release water from the dam, cases were registered against them. “We filed a petition in the Supreme Court. Today, water worship, which was our right, was performed by the same people who had rejected our demands. This is like rubbing salt in our wounds. That is why we showed our right by worshipping the water at the hands of the sons of Marathwada soil,” he said.