NITI Aayog meeting: Maha CM discusses water conservation initiatives

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday addressed the meeting of Fifth Governing Council of NITI Aayog, during which he presented his state's success regarding various water conservation initiatives in spite of drought and only 73 per cent rain.

"We achieved 115.70lakh MT food grain production. This was possible because of less dependency on rainfall as alternative arrangements were in place," he said during the meeting.

The Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Government for timely assistance to Maharashtra this year to tackle drought situation, an official statement said.

Rs 4248.59 crore of assistance has been received so far and distributed to farmers.

Fadnavis also elaborated on the measures taken by the state government to mitigate drought like deploying tankers, relaxation and concessions, repairs of water supply schemes, fodder camps, and massive tree plantation program.

According to the official statement, while speaking on agricultural reforms and use of technology, the Chief Minister spoke on SMART, PoCRA, MahaAgritech projects and how these would benefit farmers.

Fadnavis also spoke on other agendas like development in aspirational districts and measures taken to tackle the Naxal problem.

"In 2018, Maharashtra Police succeeded in eliminating 50 Naxals, which is highest ever, in history. 154 Naxals surrendered in these 5 years. Better interstate coordination and joint operations are giving better results," he added.