35 per cent water in Maha reservoirs, stock to last till July

Maharashtra's reservoirs currently have 35 per cent water in them and the stock can last till July 15 this year, state Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan today said.

Speaking to PTI, he added that the state had received 82 per cent of the average rainfall in 2016 while it received 75 per cent, of this average, in 2017.

"Despite less rainfall in 2017, the state has 35.76 per cent water in its reservoirs and this is enough to sustain till July 15. This storage was 29.30 per cent during the same period in 2017," he informed.

Mahajan attributed the healthier water levels this year to the state government's water conservation schemes.

"The Jalyukt Shivar programme and the storage of water in "KT Weirs" (Kolhapuri type bridge-cum-barrage dams) have yielded good results. Out of the 1,200 KT weirs, we could store water in 950," he said.

Jalyukt Shivar is a state government project that involves deepening and widening of streams and nullahs, construction of cement and earthen stop dams, and digging of farm ponds.

Giving a division-wise break up, the minister said that in Marathwada, the water storage was 32. 97 per cent as against 29. 65 per cent last year, Pune was at 42.55 per cent as against 27.87 per cent last year while water storage in reservoirs in Nashik was 37.45 per cent as against 30.46 per cent last year.

"Nagpur is at 18 per cent as against 17.26 per cent last year. Konkan has 52.21 per cent water in its reservoirs as against 50.58 per cent during the same period last year and Amravati was at 19.71 per cent as against 27.96 per cent last year," Mahajan informed.

He added that, as on April 9, water was being transported in tankers to 601 villages and 158 hamlets, mostly in Marathwada.

He said that the state had managed to bring 40 lakh hectares of land under irrigation last year and a target area of 40 lakh hectares had been fixed for this year as well.