13 hours ago
Poor irrigation infra worries award winning farmer
Nagpur: At the Pani Parishad, a conference on water conservation, Buldhana's Rajendra Gadekar proudly shows his picture receiving the Rashtriya Jal Puraskar from President Draupadi Murmu.
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Gadekar, who hails from Mehkar taluka in the drought-prone Buldhana district, received the award for covering an optimum area with limited water. However, he says everything is not well, and the govt needs to change its approach towards building irrigation projects.
The farmers in his area get water from the Pentakli dam on the river Painganga. The dam can irrigate more than 10,000 hectares of land, he says. However, an unrepaired canal has prevented irrigation in over 4,500 hectares of land so far.
It took years of correspondence to finally start the work in 2025, when the funds were released. Now, it is up to the contractor to finish it at the earliest, he TOI. Gadekar had come to attend the Pani Parishad conference in the city on Sunday.
Water from the Pentakli dam is supplied through two methods — Kolhapur Type Weirs built in a chain sequence, and through a 38km canal. The canal's section from 1 to 11kms needs repairs. The defective canal was leading to water flowing into the nearby fields. This led to major resentment, and locals had tried to prevent the release of water in the canal, he said.
"Now, as the funds have been released, the canal is expected to be repaired soon. However, it's time that the water resources department (WRD) adopts innovative approaches to solve problems," he says.
