Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan: 10,000 crore later, Maharashtra not ‘drought-free’ yet

A decade has passed since the Devendra Fadnavis government promised to make Maharashtra ‘drought-free’ via its flagship scheme Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan. Currently in his third term as CM, Mr. Fadnavis announced ‘Jalyukt Shivar 3.0’ to repair existing water conservation structures, expand satellite-based mapping of these structures, and enable live-monitoring via a website and a mobile application. If you extract even more water from here, it could exacerbate the downstream problems and other ecological problems.” He adds, “Ecologically, when you mix water of one basin into another, invasive species of fish, flora and fauna will come with the water, which can harm or destroy the local species.“ Implementation and budgetary allocation 2015-2019 In its first budget, presented in March 2015, the Fadnavis government allocated ₹1000 crores for JSA, ₹500 crores for Cement Nala Bandh Programme for constructing water tanks, ₹100 crores for repair and renovation of water reservoirs in Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia and Chandrapur and ₹1000 crores for a decentralized water management system. Stating that the unscientific implementation and undue reliance on machinery had resulted in provided farm ponds at the cost of depleting groundwater reserves and soil infertilisation, an officer from Sangamner told The Hindu, “Once the farmer constructs the pond, it is impossible for us to tell him not to use it for groundwater storage.” The repeated claims of corruption in JSA’s implementation by activists, locals and even BJP’s ally Shiv Sena, forced Mr. Fadnavis to order an inquiry into the irrigation department and the public works department on May 17, 2017. Officials in the Soil and Conservation department shared that the State government is currently implementing Jalyukt Shivar 2.0 in those villages which have not achieved water neutrality in phase-1 of the scheme.