Govt’s Jalyukt Shivar scheme does not hold water, says Cong
MUMBAI: Citing the findings of a recent report, the Maharashtra Congress took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-led state government saying its pet water conservation scheme, Jalyukta Shivar, has failed to yield results. According to a Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) survey, the groundwater level in 13,984 villages across 252 tehsils has reduced by more than 1%, comparing the average figures of last five years.of these, the groundwater level has reduced by more than 3 metres in 3,342 villages, by 2 to 3 metres in 3,430 villages, and by 1 to 2 metres in 7,212 villages.
Sachin Sawant, general secretary and spokesperson of the Maharashtra Congress, produced the findings of the GSDA report in a press conference on Saturday. The reduction of groundwater level by 1 to 3 metres in 252 of the state’s total 353 tehsils has proved that the
Jalyukta Shivar project is a scam.
“The state government has spent ₹7,459 crore on 5.41 lakh works under the scheme, but it has failed to yield results. While the government has been claiming that the number of tankers supplying water in villages has been reduced by 80%, the GSDA report has brought out the real picture. The reduction of the groundwater level has reinforced the failure of the Fadnavis government’s pet scheme,” said Sawant. Sawant said that the groundwater level in the districts with highest number of works undertaken has depleted to an alarming level. “The Yavatmal collector said that the district has become water neutral, but now the district administration is on the verge of declaring drought-like situation in 10 tehsils in the district. This proves the extreme contrast in the government claims,” he said. Water neutral refers to a situation where the water supply matches the demand.
Further, referring to Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi’s recent speech, the Congress challenged the BJP government to declare the names of the 25,000 villages that have been made droughtfree as a result of the scheme. In his speech at Shirdi on Friday, Modi had claimed that the scheme had made 16,000 villages drought-free. He further said that another 9,000 villages in the state would soon be water neutral owing to the scheme.