Water grid: tenders for Beed to be floated soon, says Lonikar

Maharashtra Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Babanrao Lonikar said on Tuesday that tenders for work in the Beed district as part of the ambitious 'water grid' project to connect dams would be floated soon.

The tendering process was on hold as the code of conduct is in force due to election for a Legislative Council seat from Jalna, Lonikar told reporters here.

The election would be over with results expected on Thursday, after which the tender would be floated, he said.

"Beed is the first district in the Marathwada water grid project (where the work will start first) with a cost of Rs 4,802 crore," the minister said.

The entire project is estimated to cost Rs 16,000 crore.

The project reports for Beed and other seven districts of Marathwada region are being prepared by Mekorot, the national water company of Israel, he said.

"Project reports of Latur and Osmanabad will be out soon as well," Lonikar added.

Asked if those who currently benefit from dam waters would object to the grid project, he said, "The idea is to connect all the dams. We will be mostly transferring excess water from one dam to another.

"All the dams will be connected with pipelines and the needy areas will get water as per demand. There will always be some groups objecting to such sharing but we are not doing injustice to one group to benefit others."