Mumbai, April 18 The Maharashtra government, which has launched an ambitious plan to make the state drought-free, will require Rs 2.56 lakh crore to complete 225 irrigation projects that are either pending from earlier or have been taken up since July 2022, when Eknath Shinde assumed office as Chief Minister.
The data relating to the performance of the Irrigation Department since July 2022 was presented at the state Cabinet meeting held on April 7.
As per the presentation made at the meeting, the total cost of the approved 225 irrigation projects, including previously approved and newly approved ones, is Rs 4.35 lakh crore. Of this, Rs 1.78 lakh crore has already been spent, while the state requires an additional Rs 2.56 lakh crore to complete the projects.
“The requirement of funds looks large in absolute terms, but it also includes the project cost of recently approved river-linking projects. It is not merely revised administrative approval for existing projects,” an official from the state’s Irrigation Department said.
The state has undertaken the Wainganga–Nalganga and Damanganga–Vaitarna–Godavari river-linking projects, which are jointly expected to cost around Rs 1.15 lakh crore.
Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan did not respond to queries regarding the requirement of funds to complete the projects.
Another official from the department said that several projects have been pending for decades, leading to cost escalations.
“Those escalations were also approved during this period from July 2022. Additional funds are required since the original estimates were based on the costs prevailing at the time when the projects were initiated. Delays have led to an increase in project costs,” the official said.
The state Cabinet was informed that the total planned irrigation capacity from these projects is 33.44 lakh hectares, of which 13.72 lakh hectares have been created. Around 19.72 lakh hectares of irrigation capacity are yet to be developed.
Apart from irrigation capacity, the total water storage potential of these projects is estimated at 512 TMC, of which 326 TMC has been created. The remaining 186 TMC storage capacity is yet to be developed.
Among the regions with the highest investment in irrigation is the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), with 88 projects costing Rs 2.77 lakh crore, of which only 47 per cent has been spent.
This is followed by the Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation (GMIDC), which has 45 projects costing Rs 56,982 crore, of which only 15 per cent has been spent.
In western Maharashtra, under the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC), 34 projects costing Rs 45,185 crore have seen only 37 per cent expenditure.
In north Maharashtra, the Tapi Irrigation Development Corporation (TIDC) has spent 30 per cent of Rs 30,238 crore on 24 projects.
In the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC), the total cost of 36 projects is Rs 24,555 crore, of which 32 per cent has been spent.
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