Mumbai, Oct 13 Amid a drought in parts of Maharashtra, state minister Gulabrao Patil on Tuesday claimed his Water Supply and Sanitation Department has not received funds from the Centre since September 2024, and added that the situation would have been different had money been provided.
At present, 700 tankers are supplying water in four districts of the state — Ahilyanagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna and Nashik, the Shiv Sena leader said.
“We haven’t got the money since September 2024 as expected. The state government gave funds from its own kitty…The picture would have been different had we got the money,” Patil, who represents the Jalgaon Rural assembly constituency in North Maharashtra, said.
Contractors, villagers, farmers and MLAs blame us (for the situation), he said.
“There are many projects where 80-90 per cent of the work has been completed. If we get money, we can complete some work by December and the number of tankers can be brought down,” he said.
Patil said he hoped that Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil, who hails from Maharashtra, will look into the issue.
The Sena minister said a region-wise and assembly constituency-wise review was being conducted to prepare for tackling the situation in the months to come.
Last month, the Maharashtra government declared drought in 265 of its 358 talukas, or 74 per cent of the state, amid rainfall deficit and announced relief measures, including crop loan restructuring, land revenue concessions, and power bill subsidies.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division has the highest number of 74 drought-affected talukas, followed by Amravati with 56, Nashik with 49, Nagpur with 39, Pune with 35 and Thane with 12, including one in Raigad, three in Ratnagiri and eight in Sindhudurg, have been included in the list.
(PTI News)
