Marathwada biggest beneficiary of Samruddhi corridor: Maha CM

Aurangabad and Jalna districts in the state's Marathwada region would be "magnets of development" due to the Nagpur Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Monday.

The Rs 49,250 crore corridor, alternatively referred to as a super communication expressway, is 700 kilometres long and will pass through 392 villages spread over 11 districts.

"Marathwada region is going to be the biggest beneficiary of the Nagpur Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, especially Aurangabad and Jalna districts. These districts will be the magnets of development," Fadnavis said Monday.

"The development of Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) as part of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is in progress with a total investment of Rs 11,000 crore with an estimated job creation for three lakh people," Fadnavis added.

AURIC, formerly called the Shendra-Bidkin industrial area, located near Aurangabad is a planned and greenfield smart industrial city being developed across 10,000 acres as part of DMIC.

Speaking further on government initiatives to help Marathwada, Fadnavis said that the region was home to about 35 per cent of farm ponds created across the state in the last two years.

These ponds in Marathwada had a capacity to irrigate 60,000 hectares of agricultural land, he said.

The Maharashtra CM said that the proposed Marathwada water grid project would see the the linking of 14 reservoirs for enhanced irrigation.

"Green cover in the Marathwada region is very limited. The state government's mass scale sapling plantation drive has realised into five crore plantation, as against the target of two crore this year," Fadnavis said.

He was speaking Monday at the Marathwada Liberation Day organised at Aurangabad, about 335 kilometres from here.

The arid region was part of the Hyderabad Nizamate at the time of Independence. A violent struggle ensued after the Nizam turned down a plea by the local populace for separating Marathwada from Hyderabad.

The region finally got separated from the Nizamate on September 17, 1948.