Irate villagers halt irrigation project

MEHKAR, May 19: Residents of village Pentakli in the tehsil have locked horns with the State Irrigation Department by bringing the Pentakli...

MEHKAR, May 19: Residents of village Pentakli in the tehsil have locked horns with the State Irrigation Department by bringing the Pentakli irrigation project work, which is in its final stage, to a standstill over the issue of rehabilitation of the project-hit.

The Buldana District Collector had forwarded a rehabilitation proposal to the Irrigation Department way back. However, the proposal was turned down for “certain technical reasons”.

With a view to resolving the tangle, the State Government later appointed a committee to look into the matter. In its report, the committee reportedly recommended total rehabilitation of the Pentakli village.

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The people’s representatives in the region, MLAs Pratap Jadhav, Babanrao Chaudhary and Rekha Khedekar followed up the matter, but to no avail. The apathy of the Irrigation Department towards their hardships caused resentment among the project-hit.

In February, 1996, Minister of State for Irrigation Gulabrao Gawande had convened a joint meeting of the project-hit and the officials. Demanding suitable compensation against the land acquired for the project and total rehabilitation of the village before completion of the project, the villagers had then warned that the work would be stopped if their demands were not considered sympathetically.

While addressing the villagers, Gawande had assured them that all their problems would be sorted our soon. However, the promise has turned to be a mere eyewash, allege the project-hit.Accusing the minister of backing out of his promise, the villagers pointed out that nothing has been done in this connection for the last 15 months. To register their protest, the project-hit families have shifted to the project site halting the work.

Stunned by the aggressive mood of the villagers, the Irrigation officials are urging them to let the project work start.

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Talking to The Indian Express, Pentakli sarpanch Vishwanath Ingle and Panjabrao Ingle, who are leading the agitationists, said the villagers had willingly given their land for the project as it would adequately irrigate the region besides ending the drinking water crisis in Mehkar and Chikhli tehsils.

They said while the farmers in other parts of the submergence area of the project were paid Rs 70,000 per hectare towards the compensation, the Pentakli residents received a meagre Rs 20,000 per hectare.

The leaders claimed that the blasting operations at the project site had caused considerable damage to the village.