68 out of 82 irrigation projects in Vidarbha incomplete: Min

Nagpur: Out of 82 irrigation projects in Vidarbha, a few of which started over a decade ago, 68 remain incomplete, with their revised combined cost rising to Rs1.42 lakh crore. Only slightly more than half of the planned irrigation potential has been achieved so far, Maharashtra legislative assembly was informed in a written reply on Friday.The issue was raised by MLAs Vijay Wadettiwar, Rohit Pawar, Bhaskar Jadhav, and Vishwajeet Kadam. In his response, water resources minister Girish Mahajan said 14 of the 82 projects had been completed, while the remaining 68 are at different stages of implementation.Mahajan said as of March 2025, around Rs57,000 crore had been spent on the 68 ongoing projects. These projects aim to create irrigation potential for 14.56 lakh hectares. However, only 7.36 lakh hectares of irrigation capacity had been developed by June 2025, leaving more than 7.20 lakh hectares yet to be achieved.Regarding Vidarbha's total irrigation backlog of 7,84,720 hectares, Mahajan said 7,41,185 hectares (94%) had been cleared by June 2025. However, Akola and Buldhana districts still account for a remaining backlog of 43,535 hectares.Eight projects are facing specific hurdles. Three projects - Human river in Chandrapur, Tultuli and Chenna (a tributary of Godavari river) in Gadchiroli - are awaiting forest clearance. Meanwhile, Karwafa in Gadchiroli and four other projects have been delayed due to pending land acquisition.Mahajan said the proposal for forest clearance for the Human river major project has been submitted to the forest department, while the proposal for Chenna is currently being prepared. The Tultuli project's forest proposal was rejected, and re-planning is now underway at the field level. For projects stalled due to land acquisition, gram panchayat resolutions and alternative land acquisition processes are being pursued.The minister's reply, however, did not include project-wise cost details or individual timelines for completion.