Another affected region is Marathwada. The region had Rs 260.67 crore backlog in the irrigation sector in 1982 according to a survey done by the Dandekar Committee. The backlog increased to Rs 2,770 crore by 1990 -- up ten times during the period -- thanks to the casual and step-motherly approach of western Maharashtra politicians who have always had an upper hand in state politics. The book by the veteran legislator, B T Deshmukh, is scheduled to be released at a formal function on May 17 at Amravati. The book brings to fore the political indifference suffered by Vidarbha since it became a part of Maharashtra.

According to Deshmukh, the Dandekar Committee had disclosed that the irrigation backlog in different regions which was Rs 924 crore,had increased to Rs 8,265 crore by the end of 1994. The committee was appointed by the then Congress government in early 80's to find out the regional backlogs of the state. The neighbouring Amravati district where the irrigation backlog was Rs 134.33 crore in 1982 had mounted to Rs 1095-crore by 1994. The other affected districts in the region are: Akola (Rs 905 crore), Buldhana (Rs 840 crore), and Yavatmal (Rs 790 crore).The veteran legislator accused the successive state governments of not implementing Dandekar Committee recommendations.

The committee had specifically said that 85 per cent of the total planned state outlay should be spent on removing development backlog which was subsequently accepted by the then government. However, this was never maintained while allocating funds.

He pointed out that the State had spent Rs 2,352.84 crore for large, medium, and small irrigation projects from 1982-83 to 1989-90 after the submission of the report. Of them, Rs 2,000 crore should have been spent forremoving backlogs in irrigation sector as per the guidelines of the Dandekar Committee which was not maintained while distributing the funds. The State spent Rs 211.03 crore during the eight year-period for irrigation projects in Nanded district, which did not have a backlog. On the other hand, non-irrigated districts like Buldana and Akola got only Rs 17.82 and Rs 16.33-crore.

Akola and Buldana together received Rs 34 crore for irrigation projects while Nanded alone got Rs 33 crore in 1988-89 financial year. Deshmukh alleged that politicians from western Maharashtra compelled the release of amended recommendations in the report regarding `bogus' developmental backlog of western Maharashtra to take more benefits.

Deshmukh pointed out that the average irrigated land in the state had increased from 2.16 to 11.83 per cent from 1960 to 1982. When almost all districts of western Maharashtra maintained the state average figure in irrigation during the period, the districts of Vidarbha got a raw deal. Only 2.16per cent of land in Amravati was irrigated till 1982. The state achieved 17.13 per cent in irrigation by 1990 but it could not provide adequate irrigation to the backward region. Most of the districts in the region had below 11 per cent irrigated land by the end of 1990.