Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, said on Thursday that the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration’s 31-month reign was marred by “policy paralysis.”
Speaking to a crowd at a public protest in the Maan tehsil of Satara district, he said that since the “inactive government” took power un November 2019, it has shown little interest in the issues that residents of drought-prone regions are dealing with.
Fadnavis promised Jaykumar Gore, a local BJP MLA, that he would support the people in their battle against drought till it was resolved in the area.
“A lift irrigation project at Jihe-Katapur was officially inaugurated today. Under the plan, 15,000 hectares of land will be irrigated. By now, the property would have been irrigated since we had finished all the necessary paperwork, but we lost electricity (in 2019).
“After that, an inert government came into power, which had nothing to do with the Maan area, the drought-like conditions that were present here, or the people who were experiencing drought. People are only a voting bank for them, the BJP leader who was the CM from 2014 to 2019 remarked.
He said that throughout their period in power, the MVA government attempted to block the irrigation program, which had previously been approved by the previous administration.
By December 2024, the western Maharashtra area would have enough irrigation water, according to Fadnavis, who claimed that the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition returned to power with the support of the people.
“I promise to be true. The job (on the plan) will be finished promptly. The construction has already begun, and by December 2024, 15,000 hectares will have access to irrigation facilities. Since I own the vault’s keys, money won’t be an issue, according to the deputy CM, who also oversees the finance portfolio.
According to Fadnavis, the Tembhu lift irrigation program in Satara district would have received administrative approval by the end of 2019 if the BJP had retained power.
The regions of three districts that are prone to drought on a recurring basis would benefit from the irrigation project, for which Rs 4,089 crore was allocated in 2018. The plan entails building barrages on the Krishna River close to the hamlet of Tembhu and raising 22 billion cubic feet of water to irrigate 80,000 hectares of land in seven talukas distributed throughout the Satara, Sangli, and Solapur districts.
But regrettably, the previous administration had policy gridlock. Their pen wasn’t functioning, or rather, they didn’t have a pen in their pockets, thus the project didn’t get administrative approval, he said.
From November 2019 until June 2022, the MVA administration under chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was in power.
In the last six months of the Shiv Sena-BJP administration, according to Fadnavis, 29 plans received administrative approval from the government.
He promised that the state government would contribute Rs 2,000 crore to the Tembhu project during the next month.
