Speaker assures Rs 50 crore for Dhapewada LIS
| Date :07-Jan-2020 |
Nana Patole, Speaker, listening to I S Chahal, Principal Secretary of WRD, as other officers look on.
Staff Reporter :
The stage-2 of Dhapewada lift irrigation scheme (LIS) in Gondia district requires Rs 150 crore. In 2019-20, Rs 50 crore will be made available for the project and remaining will be provided in the next budget, assured Nana Patole, Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Patole gave the assurance in a meeting held in Mumbai on Monday. Patole chaired the meeting. I S Chahal, Principal Secretary of Water Resources Department (WRD); Rajiv Kumar Mittal, Secretary of Finance Department; Kishorraje Nimbalkar, Secretary of Relief and Rehabilitation Department; Avinash Surve, Executive Director of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), were present prominently. In the meeting, the officers briefed Patole on the status of Dhapewada Stage-II LIS. After taking stock of the situation, he said that the project would not face any paucity of funds.
However, the officers should ensure that the project work was completed in time. From Dhapewada Stage-II LIS, water will be released to Chorkhamara and Bodalkasa projects. This will create irrigation potential of 11,300 hectares, which will benefit 76 villages in Gondia district. Patole also sought information regarding Dhargaon LIS in Bhandara district. He asked the officials to execute the work of Dhargaon LIS in two stages, and submit an independent report in this regard.
Also, he asked them not to treat the said project as a component of Gosikhurd national irrigation project, and submit a report in this regard too. When the officials raised the issue of vacancies in the establishment, Patole directed the senior officers to immediately fill up the positions. Also, he asked the officials at district-level to have a better co-ordination to resolve the issues faced by project affected persons of Gosikhurd national irrigation project. In another meeting held in Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, Patole said that the Government would take a positive stand as far as demands of the office-bearers of Federation of Electrical Contractors’ Association of Maharashtra was concerned.
“The Government is taking steps to generate employment, and the electrical contractors and unemployed persons will not face unemployment,” he said. Provisions should be made to enhance the educational qualifications of electrical contractors having experience of several years and giving them exposure of new works. A A Sagane, Secretary (Construction), Public Works Department; Sandeep Patil, Chief Engineer (Electrical); Ramesh Nimbhore, President of Federation of Electrical Contractors’ Association of Maharashtra; Atun Patil, former President; Atul Patil, Secretary, also were present in the meeting.