The water resources departments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have undertaken a joint project called ‘Mega Water Recharge’, an underground water harvesting scheme on more than 1.8 lakh hectare of land. The project is unique in that a hydrological fault, which created a huge cavity in the Satpura range, will be used to store water. So, no villages will be displaced and no land acquisition will be required for the project.
The mega water recharge project will be implemented in the Satpura range, based on the recommendation and study report of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). According to the CGWB, the fault is unique and this would be the only such project in Asia. Union water resources minister Uma Bharti recently visited the unique place in Satpura hills where water disappears into the ground owing to the hydrological fault. The CGWB has given the name ‘Bazada’ to areas where such faults are found.
V.D. Patil, then superintendent engineer of Tapi Irrigation Development Corporation (TIDC), said, “The fault runs parallel to the river Tapi on the right flank from Dharni in Amravati district of Vidarbha to Taloda in Nandurbar at the boundary of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The fault also runs on the left flank from Dharani to Icchapur and from Achalpur to Icchapur at the junction of the Deccan and Vindhya plates.”
According to the proposal, in the first phase, a small dam (diversion weir) with an 8-TMC capacity will be constructed at Khariya Ghuti Ghat in MP, keeping the reservoir level at 320 m. A 232-km-long right bank flood canal will run along the fault through the Bazada zone. The 110-km left bank canal will be constructed. “In the diversion weir, 8.31 TMC water will be stored. From this water, 21000 Ha area in Melghat, Maharashtra, and 27,000 Ha area in Madhya Pradesh will be irrigated. However, from the left and right canal, 130,635 Ha area from Maharashtra and 55,089 Ha area from MP will be irrigated. Thus, a total 48,000 Ha land from diversion weir and 185,724 Ha through canal will be irrigated,” said Mr Patil.
The project cost is estimated at Rs 5428.05 crore and Ms Bharti has given in-principle approval to the project. Minister for water resources Girish Mahajan said that they have been asked to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and they will submit it within the next four months.
