Government supervising work on water conservation schemes: Devendra Fadnavis

MUMBAI: Maharashtra government is supervising the progress of work of the 'Jalyukta Shivar' water conservation schemes in order to complete them before the monsoon begins, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.

Over 30,000 'Jalyukta Shivar' sites are being supervised through satellites by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Center (MRSAC).

' Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan' is the flagship program of Fadnavis who has set a target to rid Maharashtra of drought within a period of five years.

Talking about the project, Fadnavis said that in the first phase, the government has chosen 6,000 villages out of 20,000 which are in drought prone areas across the state.

"More than 30,000 water conservation projects are in progress in the selected 6,000 villages," Fadnavis told reporters here.

"Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Center has recorded the longitude and latitude of each project which is undertaken by Jalyukta Shivar Yojna through satellite," Fadnavis said.

All projects are supervised by MRSAC through satellite, which is having an office at Nagpur, he added.

Fadnavis said that results will be seen after the first rains and the state government expects a considerable rise in ground water levels by the time the monsoon is over.

"But we cannot depend only on rain water. It has its limitations. For sustainable farming, water conservation is the only option, and if it becomes a movement, it will bring a revolution in drought prone regions of Maharashtra," the Chief Minister said.