The NCP has invited the wrath of alliance partner Congress for hastening the passage of a Bill to grant more powers to a high power panel headed by the Irrigation Minister in distributing water from state dams. While Opposition members like Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) said the Bill had been introduced to divert irrigation water from the Upper Wardha project to the Sophia Thermal Power project in Amravati,the Congress said the manner in which the Bill was bulldozed was undemocratic. The Congress is concerned about losing its hold in Vidarbha region (which includes Amravati),where the NCP has a negligible presence. The Bill was passed on Wednesday night after passing the one granting 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies. The water Bill was passed around 1.30 am on Thursday in a thinly-attended Assembly,in which only four Congressmen,including the Chief Minister,were present. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre said the Bill was introduced in the winter session of the Assembly in December 2010 and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had promised that legislators would be consulted. Later,an ordinance was issued and the Bill was reintroduced in the ongoing budget session. I have received complaints from our legislators on the manner in which the Bill was hurriedly passed and I will take up the issue with the Chief Minister, Thakre said. The Chief Minister will be asked to call a meeting of Congress legislators to discuss the issue,before the Bill moves ahead for implementation. A senior Congress minister said farmers in Vidarbha were committing suicides and water for irrigation was one of the major issues. He pointed out that there were about 30 private industrial projects in Vidarbha region and if irrigation water was diverted,the agrarian crisis would worsen. Tomorrow,we may have more industries and more power generation,but farmers will have no water to irrigate their fields, he said. You can buy coal from outside at a premium but where will you get water from?
