Will make Marathwada draught-free in coming years: Devendra Fadnavis

Aurangabad: The Marathwada region in the state will be made draught-free in the upcoming years, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday.

"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the next five years will be dedicated to providing water to the people, we have decided that Marathwada will be made draught free under his leadership," Fadnavis said at an event here.

"The water that is let to flow into Konkan will be diverted to the Godavari. Every village and city will have purified water in the coming days; tenders for same have been already given for Jalna and Aurangabad," he added.

Marathwada is one of the biggest regions in the state, encompassing districts such as Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Latur, Nanded among others, it is also one of the most drought-affected regions.

Fadnavis was addressing a rally of women from various self-help groups in the region with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lauding the tireless work done by the Prime Minister in the past few days, Fadnavis said, "I should tell you that day before yesterday the Prime Minister arrived from Russia and then went to ISRO at Banglore and then arrived here after working for almost two days continuously without rest."

He also hailed the women self-help groups for their honesty and dedication saying, "We give money to so many corporates and industries, sometimes it comes back and sometimes it doesn't, but these self-empowered women have returned complete money till now."