Nagpur: The ambitious Rs18,500 crore Gosikhurd irrigation project is 67% complete and Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) is confident of meeting the December 2021 deadline. The agency has so far spent Rs11,085 crore, which translates into 60% of the cost.The irrigation capacity of the project is 2.75 lakh hectare and presently it is irrigating over 75,000 Ha. Another 37,000 Ha capacity will be added by June. These figures were announced by Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union minister of state for water resources, in the Lok Sabha recently.Superintending engineer JM Shaikh said all the obstacles in the way of the project have been removed. “As it has been included under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) the problem of fund shortage is no longer there,” he added.The official said that relocation of project affected persons (PAPs) was almost complete and now only 91 families remained. “We are still talking to them to sell their land to us. Otherwise we will go in for compulsory acquisition. We have already submitted all proposals to the district collector for this purpose. It is in the interest of farmers to sell land to us directly as they will get five times the market price. Under compulsory acquisition, the oustees will get only four times the market price,” he added.Turning to progress on various components of the project, Shaikh said, “The dam is complete and this year it had 72.6% storage. The right bank canal (RBC) is complete and we have released water in it up to 99 kilometres. Relining of left bank canal (LBC) is going on and will be completed in June 2020. The Asolamendha canal is 65% complete. We have already released some water in it.”All the four major lift irrigation schemes (LIS) — Tekepar, Ambhora, Nerla and Mokhabardi — are complete. Tender for Shivnala minor LIS has been approved while those for Pauni, Sheri and Gosi are in process. The one at Akot will be constructed by central government’s National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).Shaikh said as per earlier estimates, VIDC needed 1,800 Ha for the distribution network. “However, the government has decided to supply water through pipelines instead of canals in many areas. This has reduced our requirement for land. Four-hundred hectares is needed for increasing capacity of Asolamendha tank. This won’t reduce,” he further said.

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