Vidarbha irrigation set for major boost with Rs 800-crore investment

VIDC Executive Director M E Dalvi described these developments as a positive sign for the development of the Vidarbha region. Talking to a group of journalists, Dalvi informed that about Rs 500 crore are expected to be raised through the first series of private placement bonds.

With a high-powered committee set up by the state government examining the bond proposal and granting its approval expeditiously, the necessary legal formalities are now nearing completion. The announcement regarding floating of the first series of bonds is expected to be made sometime later this month or in the first week of June. The second series bonds are likely to be floated sometimes in October, Dalvi said.

The VIDC Executive Director hailed the government decision to go in for a bigger size of bond saying that it has come as a kind of recognition to the work done so far by the VIDC. He expressed the confidence that the bonds would evoke an encouraging response in the market as in the past. He recalled that the VIDC was able to raise Rs 300 crore through bonds, which was double the target set for last year. With the state government releasing its share of funds, the VIDC could utilise Rs 492 crore for on-going projects last year.

To a question about the government transferring more and more projects to VIDC, Dalvi said it is another way of recognising VIDC’s contribution. He sought to ally the fears that the VIDC will be overburdened by the government decision and it will ultimately lead to further delay in the completion of the long-pending projects. He said, the VIDC never faced any kind of resource crunch since it was launched four years ago. There is absolutely no possibility of projects lagging behind since the VIDC will be in a more comfortable financial position this year, he said.

Major projects handed over to the VIDC in the initial stages included the Gosikhurd dam coming up across the Wainganga river on the border of Nagpur and Bhandara districts, Lower Wunna in Nagpur district, Upper Wardha in Amravati, Lower Wardha in Wardha, Bembla in Yavatmal, Wan on the borders of Akola and Buldana districts and Khadakpurna in Buldana district. While the Upper Wardha and Lower Wunna dams were completed, work is going apace at Gosikhurd and Wan. The VIDC has also launched the Khadakpurna project work soon after winning a legal battle recently, he said.

In reply to a question about the fate of irrigation projects in Vidarbha region awaiting environmental clearance, Dalvi said state Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar is personally looking into the issue. Over 100 major, medium and minor projects have not been cleared by the Centre on the ground that forest land was submerged in all these projects. The state government has now offered a better proposal for carrying out compensatory afforestation in all these cases, raising the hope of an early clearance to at least 27 projects, Dalvi said.