Gosikhurd irrigation project will be completed by 2022: VIDC

Govt had told the HC that the irrigation project would be completed by 2019

While Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been saying that the government was determined to complete the Gosikhurd irrigation project by the end of 2019, the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) filed an affidavit before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday, saying that the project would be completed by March 2022. The biggest irrigation project in Vidarbha, located in Bhandara district, is expected to irrigate over 2.5 lakh hectares in Bhandara, Nagpur and Chandrapur districts.

It had been making tardy progress since its inception in the early eighties. With new dispensations at the Centre and in the state, promises of early completion has been made time and again. But the VIDC affidavit makes it clear that the project won’t be completed by 2019 as the court was told by the government in 2015.

The affidavit was filed as directed by the bench led by Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari on September 6 while hearing a clutch of petitions seeking, among other things, a CBI probe into the alleged irrigation scam in Vidarbha. The case is currently being heard by a bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Rohit Deo.

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The VIDC gave a detailed progress report on all 312 projects under construction in the region. It said 102 were competed and I32 were near completion. Among major projects, Bawanthadi will be completed by December this year, Khadakpurna by March 2019, Lower Wardha by March 2020, Bembla by 2021 and Lower Pedhi by December 2020.

About Gosikhurd, the VIDC has said that up to June 2018, an irrigation potential of 74,476 ha had been created. The remaining will be created as follows: 31,543 ha in 18-19, 72,393 in 19-20, 40,000 ha in 20-21 and 32,392 ha in 21-22. The project has two major canals — right and left bank having five lift irrigation schemes on them. There are 85 submergence villages, 51 in Nagpur and 34 in Bhandara, to be rehabilitated in threes stages at 64 sites. A total of 55 villages have so far been fully and finally resettled, the VIDC has claimed.

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