Published On : Tue, May 24th, 2022

Project sanctioned to quench thirst of Nagpur cancelled by MVA Govt?

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Nagpur: The MVA Government in Maharashtra, it seems, is hell bent on robbing Vidarbha of projects sanctioned by previous BJP Government.

After the construction of the Chaurai Dam in Madhya Pradesh, the supply of water to Nagpur City decreased considerably. The city is bound to grow in future. Keeping this fact in mind, the previous Fadnavis Government had approved a Rs 2,800 crore project to bring water from Lohghogari village in Madhya Pradesh to Totladoh through a tunnel. The process is complete till the tender, but now that the project has been cancelled. This move of the State Government has increased the possibility that the city will have to pay a heavy price for it in future.

The population is increasing along with the city limits. Therefore, given the expected population increase by 2025, the demand for drinking water will increase enormously. Apart from this, the water problem of Nagpur residents is increasing due to lack of regular rains. The Chaurai Dam was constructed in the year 2016-17 in Madhya Pradesh. Since then, there has been a severe shortage of drinking water in Nagpur city. To avoid water crisis in future, the then Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule had approved a project to bring 10 TMC of water from Kanhan River to Totladoh reservoir through Lohaghogari village in Madhya Pradesh.

For this project, Rs 2,864 crore was also sanctioned. He was scheduled to complete the project in the next five years. But then the government changed in the State. The project was completely ignored after the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government came to power. The process of this project reached up to the tender. But now the project has come to a standstill due to non-availability of funds sanctioned by the present State Government.

It is worth mentioning that there is a proposal to build a diversion dam near Lohghogari village in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh and divert the water of Kanhan River to Totladoh dam through tunnel. The length of the embankment will be 160 metres, the height of the embankment will be 5.5 metres and the length of the tunnel will be 62 km. The diameter of the tunnel will be 6.9 metres and the forest land will be 12.26 hectares.

Yearly proposed expenditure:

2019-20 – Rs 585 crore

2020-21 – Rs 575 crore

2021-22 – Rs 574 crore

2022-23 – Rs 574 crore

2023-24 – Rs 554 crore