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SRAVANI SARKAR
NAGPUR, APRIL 13: The legendary laid-back attitude of Vidarbha is yet again proving to be its own undoing. This time it is the Khadakpurna Irrigation Project in Sindkhed Raja tehsil of Buldana district.
The ambitious irrigation project - which promises to provide irrigation to 18,000 hectares land and drinking water to four parched tehsils in one of the most backward districts of the region - is facing the imminent fear of never getting started.
Already in the throes of a stiff political opposition spearheaded by active leaders from Marathwada region, the matter has now got caught in legal wrangles and seems far away from any immediate solution. Normally, whenever a major developmental project is undertaken, beneficiaries take keen interest in it and even form pressure groups to ensure its fast completion.
This aspect is surprisingly lacking in this particular case. On the other hand, an organisation in Marathwada is stiffly opposing the dam, only out of fear that it might hamper the interest of thatregion.
In the only pro-dam development, Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), which was handed over the project in 1997, has decided to file a petition demanding transfer of the case filed by the Marathwada Janata Vikas Parishad, an anti-Khadakpurna group in Marathwada, from the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court to the parent court in Mumbai.
Khadakpurna Irrigation Project is one of the ten major irrigation projects in Vidarbha, handed over to the VIDC. The project based on the Khadakpurna river was granted administrative clearance in 1989. The project is to benefit 18,000 hectares of farming land in Sindkhed Raja, Deulgaon Raja, Chikhli and Mehkar talukas and also promises to provide drinking water to these parched areas.
Originally estimated to cost Rs 83 crore, the cost escalated to Rs 178 crore in 1997, when it was taken over by the VIDC. The current cost of the project is estimated at around Rs 200 crore.
Interestingly, the project does not face the usual problemsassociated with any major irrigation project. The project involves complete submergence and thus displacement of only six villages, while 53 villages - 40 in Deulgaon Raja and 13 in Sindkhed Raja.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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