Gosikhurd irrigation project to have 24 MW hydel plant

Nagpur, Aug 19 (UNI) The ambitious Gosikhurd irrigation project in Vidarbha will now also have a 24 megawatt (MW) hydro-electric (hydel) power plant, Maharashtra Minister for Water Resources Ajit Pawar said.

Speaking to reporters here yesterday, Mr Pawar said that the unit would be set up by Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), which is executing the project, at a cost of Rs. 125 crore.

Power from the unit would be used for the lift irrigation schemes under the Gosikhurd project, he said.

A landscaped garden would be created over 57 hectares of land adjoining the Gosikhurd dam at a cost of Rs. 17 crore, Mr Pawar said. VIDC would meet the cost for facilities like pathways and illumination in the garden, while the landscaping would be done through a BOT (build-operate-transfer) deal, the minister said. The Gosikhurd dam was ready, and all the gates would be closed to store 10 TMC of water on October 31 next, he further said.

Mr Pawar said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would visit Maharashtra at the end of this month to review the implementation of the package that he had announced for farmers on July 1, 2006. The Prime Minister was likely to hold the review meeting in Mumbai, but efforts were on to arrange a visit to Vidarbha region also, he said.

The state government has decided to spend Rupees 16,345 crore over the next three years on irrigation projects in the state, he said. These included Rs 6,956 crore for Vidarbha, besides approximately Rs 4,000 crore for Marathwada, Rs 1,200 crore for Khandesh and Konkan each, and Rs 3,500 crore for Krishna Valley, the Minister said. The amount, to be allocated to specific projects, would be raised through internal resource generation and Central funding, he said, adding that the state cabinet had already approved the proposal.

Replying to questions, Mr Pawar said that the government had decided to fill up 1.32 lakh vacancies in the state, including 1.10 lakh posts in various departments and 22,000 in the zilla parishads.

Around 60 per cent of these would be filled by the direct recruitment and the remaining 40 per cent through promotions, he said. The recruitments would be made adhering to a recent High Court directive on filling up posts reserved for handicapped candidates, he added.

UNI