Maha Congress leader Ashok Chavan says water diversion first, grid later

Maharashtra state Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan has underlined the need for diversion of excess water from west-flowing rivers in Maharashtra towards the dams in Marathwada before implementing the water grid project for the region.

We differ with the leaders from the ruling parties on implementation of the water-grid project in its current form. Simply transferring water from one district to another when dams in Marathwada are not getting filled makes no sense. They are not understanding the basic situation, he said.

According to a report of TOI, Speaking during the valedictory function of 42nd Marathwada Literary Meet at Ghansawangi in Jalna district on Sunday, Chavan said merely laying down the water-grid project would cause conflicts between the districts within the region over the share of water.

Chavan said barring the past few years, dams in Marathwada were not getting filled to their designed storage capacity. In such a scenario, water will become a burning issue if we implement the water grid project.