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Journalism of Courage
SATARA, Sept 22: The recent announcement by State Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse that the Government would complete the work on dams in the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation project before 2000 and take up canal construction later has created confusion and furore in Urmodi project area.
The minister has said the MKVDC project cost had escalated from Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 11,500 crore and the Government had to postpone canal construction as it needed additional Rs 4,500 crore.
Farmers from Urmodi, led by Sampatrao Bhosale, plan to agitate against the decision. Abhaysinhraje Bhosale, Congress MP, told a press conferencerecently that under the Bachavat award, the Government has to block 594 TMC water and take it to farmers through canals before 2000. Merely impounding of water is not sufficient to block the claim of Karantaka and Andhra Pradesh, he said. He said the additional cost was the Government8217;s burden and farmers should not be victimised. 8220;Dam victims of other projects have approached me. They are planning a similar protest and stop dam work,8221; Bhosale said. He said surprisingly the minister, MKVDC officials or even Divisional Commissioner Arun Bhatia was not interested in meeting the dam victims and discuss the matter. 8220;How can they take them for granted and sit quietly in their offices when the farmers are in such dire straits,8221; he asked.
8220;The Urmodi dam work is stopped now, but before it resumes, the authorities should meet the farmers and solve their problems. Otherwise, farmers will stage agitations and block construction work,8221; he warned.
Referring to the water supply to Satara from the Khasreservoir via a 25 km pipeline, Bhosale said many villages between Khas and Satara city used to get water earlier through percolation from the open canal. The Government has promised them water from the pipeline. If that is done, Satara city will get less water. The Government should therefore give them that much water from the Urmodi dam free, he said.
Bhosale claimed that the Government had deceived the farmers in the payment of their land. While the Government paid Rs 40,000 per acre for the land they lost to the dam project, it charged the farmers Rs 1 lakh per acre for the land they were given. It is difficult for the farmers to collect Rs. 2 lakh to buy two acres of land, he said. 8220;If the Government ignores this issue, it will have to pay the price,8221; he warned.
