Awaiting civic amenities for 50 years, Maharashtra department seeks Rs 425 crore for 332 displaced villages

On Monday, in a review meeting of the department, the pending issue of providing civic amenities to these rehabilitated villages was discussed. As per the data presented in the meeting, 568 villages were rehabilitated since the formation of the state until the implementation of the Act — between 1960 and 1976. Out of these villages, only 236 have been given all necessary civic amenities.

“Around 332 villages still need several civic amenities. Almost Rs 424.60 crore are required to solve this issue permanently and it was presented in the meeting,” said an official of the Relief and Rehabilitation department who was present during the meeting.

“All these numbers are from the irrigation projects completed before the enactment of the Act. Before it, there was no comprehensive policy for rehabilitation and even after 50 years, the problems have not been solved,” said the official.

Among these 332 villages, the highest or 129 are from the Pune division, and 75 are from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The Konkan and Nasik divisions have 61 and 60 villages, respectively, and the Amaravati has 6, and the Nagpur division has only one village. The note presented in the meeting showed that among the big irrigation projects such as Koyana and Jayakwadi, around 93 and 48 rehabilitated villages are yet to get all necessary civic amenities.

The Pune division has sought around Rs 162 crore, and the Nasik division has sought Rs 129 crore for the villages under them. For Amaravati, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Konkan divisions, Rs 21 crore, Rs 64 crore, and Rs 46 crore, respectively, have been sought.