This story is from August 21, 2019

Cabinet clears tendering for Marathwada water grid

The Maharashtra government has cleared tendering for the 4,800 crore Beed phase of the Marathwada water grid project which is aimed at connecting 11 major dams in the arid region in order to provide piped drinking water to households in this water scarce region.
Cabinet clears tendering for Marathwada water grid
Activists say the hugely expensive dam-linking project entails a misallocation of resources, which are better spent in ensuring a fairer distribution of water
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has cleared tendering for the 4,800 crore Beed phase of the Marathwada water grid project which is aimed at connecting 11 major dams in the arid region in order to provide piped drinking water to households in this water scarce region.
"The aim is to draw water from dams which have some water to regions which have very little water. Then the water will go through treatment plants and from there to households," said P Velrasu, member secretary of the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) which is implementing the project.
The project consultant is Israel's national water supply company Mekorot.
Initially tenders will be issued for the Beed and Aurangabad-Jalna regions, which had been cleared earlier. The project for the entire Marathwada region which includes 8 districts, is slated to cost Rs 16,000 crore. The Aurangabad-Jalna phase is expected to cost Rs 4,293 crore.
Besides tapping water from the dams within Marathwada, the project will also utilise water from four dams in the Nasik region. Finally, the water grid will also connect to the Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada river linking projects which are expected to provide 73 tmc of water to Marathwada. The project, has however, met with local opposition.
"The people of Marathwada have not been taken into confidence about this project and the money should instead be used to address the unequal water distribution to the region. We have grave doubts about the need and effectiveness of the project," says activist Anna Sawant, who was part of the Marathwada water grid parishad.
The parishad has sent a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The activists also questioned the effectiveness of the state's flagship water conservation project Jalyukta Shivar.

"Since the state claims that Jalyukta Shivar was successful, what is the need for a water grid?" the parishad has asked. They also said that the Israeli company Mekorot had no experience in implementing such a project.
The aim is to draw water from dams which have some water to regions which have very little water. Then the water will go through treatment plants and from there to households
The aim is to draw water from dams which have some water to regions which have very little water. Then the water will go through treatment plants and from there to households.
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