Fadnavis: Marathwada to be fully drought-free in seven years

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday laid out a plan to free Marathwada from drought permanently, speaking in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. He said work has already begun to bring an additional 30 TMC of water from the Krishna basin into Marathwada via the Bhima basin. Besides this, the detailed project report for a river-linking scheme to bring 70 TMC of water from the Ulhas basin into the Godavari basin is now in its final stage.

According to Fadnavis, the entire project will be completed in phases over the next seven years, aiming to permanently free Marathwada from drought. He made the remarks on Marathwada Liberation Day, after paying tribute to martyrs. The Chief Minister laid a wreath at the memorial, followed by a flag hoisting. At the same event, he also spoke about measures to deal with rain, farmers' losses and drought-like conditions.

Fadnavis said Marathwada received good rainfall initially, which allowed kharif sowing to take place, but the rains then took a long break, causing crop damage. He said farmers would not be left on their own. As per NDRF norms, panchnamas (damage assessments) will be conducted after October 5, but assistance will reach farmers before that.

Fadnavis also targeted the agitation by Uddhav Thackeray's UBT faction, calling it an agitation of incompetence against the state government. He said those who could not do anything when they had the opportunity are the ones now protesting. He said the government would keep working while the opposition kept protesting.

The Chief Minister said the city's new water supply scheme is also in its final stage, and expressed hope that every household would soon get water daily. He said Toyota, Ather and JSW are set to manufacture electric vehicles in the Samruddhi Mahamarg and DMIC area, for which about 8,000 acres of land will be acquired. According to Fadnavis, this will also generate employment.

On UPI, Fadnavis also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi, saying subsidies go directly into bank accounts through UPI, which has curbed corruption. He said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raises this issue against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but according to Fadnavis, he reads from prepared scripts and says different things in the morning, evening and night.