Maharashtra govt approves Rs 79 bn for water projects in drought-hit areas

The jumbo proposal is aimed at the completion of works in Konkan, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur and Pune divisions.

Maharashtra drought : The Maharashtra government has approved over Rs 70 billion to complete the drinking water projects in scarcity-hit areas, state minister Babanrao Lonikar said.

The government is committed to provide water to all villages that are perennially dry, the water supply and sanitation minister said in a release issued last night.

Under the National Rural Drinking Water Scheme, the government has approved a proposal of Rs 79.52 billion for completing 6,624 water projects in 10,583 villages, he said.

The jumbo proposal is aimed at the completion of works in Konkan, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur and Pune divisions.

Nearly 6,500 projects have already been completed in the last four years by spending Rs 55 billion, Lonikar said.

During the last four years, the main emphasis was to complete the pending projects, he said.

The water supply department ensured that funds were properly utilised and action was taken against district bodies misusing the money, he added.

Notably, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra is a perennially drought-hit area.

The region received only 86 per cent of its average rainfall last year, a senior revenue official had earlier said.

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Pranab Mukherjee's daughter had opposed his RSS event visit

The two, according to sources, had a row when Mukherjee had accepted the invite from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat some weeks back.

Former president Pranab Mukherjee, slated to address Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres on Thursday, landed in Nagpur on Wednesday evening but didn’t offer tributes at the memorial of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar located there.

However, it also transpired that not just several leaders in the Congress, but also Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha had opposed his visiting the RSS headquarters.

The two, according to sources, had a row when Mukherjee had accepted the invite from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat some weeks back. But this came out in the public domain when sections of the media reported on Wednesday evening that Sharmistha, the chief of the women’s wing of the Delhi unit of the Congress party, could be the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from West Bengal’s Malda Lok Sabha seat in 2019. The media reports attributed the information to BJP sources.

Sources in Mukherjee’s office denied these reports. They said Mukherjee has had “no political discussions” with RSS-BJP. An upset Sharmishtha, who is currently on vacation, took to Twitter where she not only denied the news but told her father that she had forewarned him about this.

“I joined politics because I believe in the Congress party. I would rather leave politics than leave Congress,” she said. But that wasn’t all.

In her second tweet, where she also tagged her father, Sharmistha said: “Hope .@CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays’ incident, how BJP dirty tricks department operates. Even the RSS wouldn’t believe that you are going to endorse its views in your speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain and those will be circulated with fake statements.”

In a third tweet, she said: ".@CitiznMukherjee by going to Nagpur, you are giving BJP/RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread false rumours like today and making it somewhat believable. And this is just the beginning!"

The former president had already conveyed to the RSS leadership that he, unlike other chief guests at such events, will not offer floral tributes at Hedgewar’s memorial.

The RSS welcomed Mukherjee’s visit, and said it should be an example to the Congress and others who pursue politics of untouchability.