26 Maha dams hit ‘zero storage’ level

MUMBAI: In a far cry from last year’s situation, 26 reservoirs in Maharashtra have reached “zero storage” as on May 18, according to statistics put out by the Water Conservation department of the state government.

The department’s website informed that water storage in Aurangabad Division, which comprises Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Parbhani and Osmanabad districts, was 0.43 %as against 23.44 % at the same time last year.

The dams in these division are Paithan, Manjara, Majalgaon, Yeldari, Siddeshwar, Lower Terna, Sina Kolegaon and Lower Dhudna, all of which have zero storage at the moment, the department informed.

The storage in these dams in May last year was 34.95 %in Paithan, 21.24 % in Manjara, 17.5 % in Majalgaon and 52.03%in Lower Terna.

Other dams that have hit the zero storage level as on May 18 are Kadakpurna and Pentakli in Buldhana, Gosikhurd, Dina and Nand in Nagpur Division, Upper Tapi Hathnur in Jalgaon, Waki, Bham, Bhavli and Punegaon in Nashik Division, Dibhe, Ghod, Pimpalgaon Joge, Wadaj and Temghar in Pune, Bhima, Kundali Tata and Lonavala Tata in Solapur, it informed.

Meanwhile, Tisgaon dam in Nashik and Totladoh in Nagpur have 0.01 and 0.08 %water respectively. It said water storage in the state’s 103 large, medium and small reservoirs stood at 11.84 %, against 23.73%last year.

Sanjay Lakhe Patil, a social activist, alleged that the state government’s distribution of fodder camps for cattle in the drought-affected regions was not proper.

Terming it an “animal farm” situation where only the fittest survive, Patil said, “Only the strong political leaders got cattle camps, fodder, water in their districts in large numbers, whereas drought relief should have been distributed equitably.”

Both NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress state unit president Ashok Chavan have been routinely attacking the Devendra Fadnavis government on the drought situation in the state.