Farmers averse to sharing Godavari waters

SHIRDI: The proposal to divert the waters of the Godavari from Kopargaon taluka to Vaijapur and Gangapur talukas of neighbouring Aurangabad district has turned into a major contentious issue, with Nationalist Congress Party MLA from Kopargaon, Shankarrao Kolhe, declaring a farmers'' war to oppose the move.
The irrigation department has constructed a 90-km-long ''Express canal'' to carry the river waters from Nandur Madhameshwar to the two talukas in the Marathwada region.The department has planned to conduct test of the ''Express canal'' from March 15.
Kolhe, a senior co-operative leader, last Friday led 5,000-odd farmers to register their protest against the proposal by throwing a stone each into the newly built canal at Padhegaon, 7 km from Kopargaon town. Over 2,000 of these protesters were arrested but later released by the police.
The commissioning of the ''Express canal'' is expected to adversely affect the water supply in both the right and left canals of the Godavari river. The irrigated areas from Kopargaon, Rahata and Shirdi areas in Ahmednagar districts would be the worst hit by the canal, Kolhe said.
He also criticised Union minister for heavy industries Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil and his MLA son, Radhakrishna, for not opposing the ''Express canal''. Kolhe pointed out that the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP units from Vaijapur and Gangapur talukas had joined hands on the issue.
What sparked anger among farmers in Kopargaon was the demands made by Vaijapur MLA R.R. Wani and his counterpart from Gangapur, Kailas Mane, for immediate release of water into the ''Express canal''.
Speaking at a ''drought rally'' in Kopargaon on Monday, minister of state for irrigation Balasaheb Thorat said the canal was built to meet the water requirements of droughtprone Vaijapur and Gangapur talukas. However, he assured that work on the Kashyapi dam would be expedited to solve the water problem of Kopargaon taluka.