NGO to seek governor's intervention in water issue

AURANGABAD: Protestors on Friday burnt the effigy of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Shankarrao Kolhe at Kranti Chowk.
The leader had threatened to go on a 'jail bharo' protest if water from dams in the Ahmednagar and Nashik districts was released into the Jayakwadi reservoir.
The protestors who belonged to an all-party committee called the Jayakwadi Pani Sangharsh Kruti Samiti also threatened to obstruct the supply of milk from Ahmednagar to Aurangabad and that of sugarcane from the Marathwada region to western Maharashtra.More than 50% of the milk supplied to the city is from Ahmednagar, according to an office-bearer of the committee.
The committee's convener, Jayajirao Suryawanshi, said its representatives would meet the governor soon. "Since politicians are dividing the state over the water issue to protect their vested interests, it is time the governor intervened," Suryawanshi said.
The convener said the committee would intensify its protest if the government failed to order the release of water from upstream dams into the Jayakwadi reservoir. "Those in the sugar and milk industries with political influence are obstructing the release of water."
Ashok Dhage, of the Bharatiya Krushak Samaj in Ahmednagar district said, "Though we belong to Ahmednagar (western Maharastra), farmers from 250 villages under the jurisdiction of Sangamner, Akola, Kopargaon, Shrirampur, Rahata and Pravaranagar depend on the backwaters of the Jayakwadi dam."
He added that farmers from more than 300 villages, including Gangapur, Newasa, Paithan and Shegaon, were affected by the Jayakwadi-project. "Moreover, the unequal distribution of water has added to their woes," he said.
He alleged that politicians were trying to create a rift between the people in western Maharashtra and Marathwada. "They are following the divide and rule policy of the Britishers. The Command Area Development Authority (CADA) engineers should be submitting reports about water release regularly, but they fail to do so," he said.
Dhage added, "As per the government resolution, 10% of the water from the Jayakwadi dam is reserved for project-affected people. The rules, however, are not being implemented. It has been almost 40 years since the construction of the dam, but the problems of the project-affected people remain unsolved. The GR is not being followed and the CADA officials are ignoring the issue. It is time the officials began to behave in a responsible manner and gave an account of the water."