MUMBAI: A CAG report tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday criticised the previous Fadnavis government for its failure to implement the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan (JSA) touted to make villages in the state drought-free.
The report has revealed irregularities in the Rs 10,000-crore water-shed management scheme, prompting the ruling Mahavikas Aghadi leaders to demand a judicial inquiry into the “scam”. Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the former BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis should take moral responsibility and resign from his post and face the inquiry.
As per CAG report, the intention of the Jalyukta Shivar scheme was to recharge the groundwater and increase the cover of irrigation, but the scheme failed to meet the targets. As per report, instead of increasing the groundwater, the level in 31,015 villages went down. The groundwater loss was by more one metre in 13,984 villages.
However, the state government’s expenses on tanker-supplied water increased in 2019, entailing an expenditure of Rs 9,000 on tankers alone.
“It shows that the scheme has grossly failed. It was mainly used by contractors for their own benefit; the farmers hardly got anything. When we were in opposition, we tried to expose the scheme. The scheme needs proper auditing,” said Sawant.
The BJP rejected the CAG report, saying it had used small samples to reach its findings. The report observed that in 37 out of 83 villages, the water shortfall was due to less storage created than planned.
In 25 of these 37 villages, the shortfall in creation of storage vis-à-vis planned storage was more than 20%. “Consequently, in 17 of these 83 villages, water tankers were deployed for meeting the water requirement of the villages.”