Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has instructed all guardian ministers of his cabinet to start preparing a plan of “Jalyukta Shivar” projects in their respective districts. Mr Fadnavis on Tuesday chaired a meeting in Mumbai on “integrated water plan” for all regions of the state, and asked to ready the plan as soon as possible.
The state government has been working on schemes related to a secured irrigation system and Jalyukta Shivar, famous for being the chief minister’s pet project, is one of them. Small farm ponds, farm wells and small barrages at the village level are other such schemes. The government has established the “State Jal Parishad” to integrate all such work and increase irrigation capacity of the state.
Addressing the third meeting of the State Jal Parishad on Tuesday, Mr Fadnavis said, “Secured irrigation system should be our main objective in water conservation programmes. For that, every district must prepare a plan before the rains. Jalyukta Shivar will be one of the major schemes in this mission. In the next two months, we need to find out where projects under Jalyukta Shivar can be planned.”
Mr Fadnavis also asked the irrigation department to consider a model of the Godavari valley integrated water plan for all rivers of state. “We need to have time-bound planning of integrated water projects in all other river valleys. Take help of the expert committee to make the plan technically sound and financially feasible. All ready plans must be expedited for final clearance of the State Jal Parishad,” he said.
