CM promises Rs 2,200 crore for Krishna-Marathwada project

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has promised funds worth Rs2,200 crore for the long-pending Krishna Marathwada irrigation project, a large chunk of which would be released by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Chairing a drought review meeting in Osmanabad on Tuesday, around 250km from Aurangabad, Fadnavis said Rs 800 crore had already been released for the project.
"The money already released for the project is being used for work related to tunnelling and stabilization activities. The government will ensure there is no shortfall of funds to expedite the project as a huge sum will be arranged through NABARD," he said.
It is claimed around 288 villages from Osmanabad and Beed districts will be free from water scarcity if the multi-crore irrigation project, scheduled to fetch seven TMC water, becomes a reality. It is also expected to irrigate nearly 34,000 hectares of agricultural land in three districts.
The state cabinet, at its special meeting on October 4, 2016, had pegged the cost of the project at nearly Rs 5,000 crore and assured speedy completion.
Fadnavis at the time had said the project would fetch Marathwada its "due share" of seven TMC water without any difficulty.
Of the total sanctioned funds for Krishna-Marathwada irrigation project, Krishna-Bhima stabilisation work had a financial outlay of over Rs1,000 crore, while the remaining money was allotted to three lift irrigation schemes, including two in Osmanabad and one in Beed.
The capacity of the much-delayed project has been reduced to only seven TMC as the water arbitrator concerned had denied permission to divert water from one river basin to another.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis also asked the Osmanabad district administration to achieve its target in the 'farm-pond on demand' scheme, failing which they could face stern action.
The chief minister also took stock of the water-scarcity situation. Fadnavis is holding a series of such meetings in the worst affected districts of the state.