Mahayuti woos Vidarbha with 88,575 cr river-linking project

MUMBAI: The state cabinet on Wednesday approved the 426.52-km Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project, with an estimated cost of ₹88,575 crore. This decision is expected to help the BJP in the Vidarbha region in the upcoming assembly elections, as the project will irrigate 3.7 lakh hectare of agricultural land in six districts affected by farmers’ suicide.

Western Vidarbha faces rain deficit resulting in crop loss and financial distress to farmers leading up to suicides. As a solution, the Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project was proposed during 2018 when Devendra Fadnavis, who belongs to the Vidarbha region, was the chief minister. But, after a change in government in 2019, the project went into cold storage. Back in governance, Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis had recently sent the proposal of the river link project to the state governor for approval.

With the Cabinet now approving funds for the long-pending irrigation project, which will directly help around 15 tehsils, it is expected to give a boost to the electoral prospects of the ruling Mahayuti, and BJP in particular, in the Vidarbha region. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, BJP lost most of the seats in Vidarbha region to the MVA alliance because of the farmers’ anger.

Under the river linking project, excess water from Gosikhurd dam in Bhandara district during the monsoon will be diverted to Nalganga dam in Buldhana district in western Vidarbha. This will help irrigate a total of 3,71,277 hectares of land in Nagpur, Wardha, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Akola, Buldhana. Tehsils which will benefit from the project include Nagpur, Kuhi, Umred, Hingana, Selu, Arvi, Dhamangaon, Babhulgaon, Barshi Takli and Akola.