Catchment areas face drought conditions

While heavy rains threaten to drown Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada continue to reel under water-starved conditions. Reason: Catchment ...

While heavy rains threaten to drown Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada continue to reel under water-starved conditions. Reason: Catchment areas of dams there have received inadequate rainfall.

State Irrigation Secretary V.M. Sodal admits the rainfall is poor compared to last year. ‘‘At the moment, there is very little water, but once the monsoon advances things will improve,’’ he adds.

A senior irrigation official says that against the storage capacity of 2,489 million cubic metres (mcm) of 14 major dams in Vidarbha, on Friday, less than 528 mcm water was available. On the same day last year, it was 1,257 mcm. Totladoh, the biggest dam in the region, has less than 100 mcm water, while water levels in Itiadoh, Kalisarar and Pujari Tola dams in Gondia were less than 20 per cent.

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The situation in Marathwada is more disturbing. The Jaikwadi irrigation project in Aurangabad, with a storage of 2,171 mcm is almost empty, while water levels in all the seven major dams — Sheldari and Purna Sidheshwar in Parbhani, Majalgaon and Manjara dams in Beed, Lower Terna and Manar in Nanded — are very poor. Against the total capacity of 4,735 mcm, water available on Friday was less than 130 mcm.

The official said the status of dams in Western Maharashtra and Konkan was satisfactory.

Agrees Nagpur district Shiv Sena MP Subodh Mohite. ‘‘No doubt the wet spell will help the sowing, but inadequate water in dams will adversely affect farmers in Vidarbha.’’