Thread by @MukulAgarwal66

How dam desilting is transforming the most drought-prone areas in Maharashtra. bloombergquint.com/opinion/2018/0…

#Jalyuktshivar is a pronounced success.
But fewer know about #Gaalmuktdharan scheme.
#TransformingMaharashtra

#Gaalmuktdharan

While the numbers are still being counted, it is likely that the state would have spent less than Rs 25 crore on desilting these dams.

330 crores would have been required to transport this much water to villages via tankers

One year’s savings on water capacity created alone would be worth more than ten times that amount, leave aside the savings from other potential drought relief measures like loan waivers, cattle camps, and insurance

Akoladev in Jalna, Marathwada was experiencing a severe drought in 2013 Its villagers and those from the seven villages surrounding the Jeevrekha Dam there were facing acute distress

in 3 years, Akoladev and its surrounding seven villages were transformed into a green zone, with many of its farmers harvesting 2-3 crops due to higher water availability, witnessing a massive increase in yields, cut in fertiliser consumption, and boost in other income.

What is being done via the Maharashtra Government’s #GaalmuktDharan, scheme ?

philanthropists or companies’ CSR teams working with NGOs or in many cases villagers, come together via gram panchayats to provide funding for hiring excavators to help desilt dams. This is supplemented by a subsidy the state provides for the diesel for operating these machines.

The silt that is removed is carted away by farmers, at their cost, in tractors, to their fields, and typically four inches of it is spread on it by them to enrich it.

With over 4,500 villages covered via the efforts this year, the total direct and indirect beneficiaries could well run into a few million!

The silt, when spread on their fields, helped boost the productivity of their fields significantly and significantly cut usage of fertiliser.

As water capacity increased in these areas, even those who weren’t able to cart silt were beneficiaries of greater water availability in the villages that underwent desilting.

Entire village ecosystems got positively impacted because of greater water availability and consequent socio-economic benefits were well evident. Documented case studies of changes showed a dramatic transformation in the lives of farmers over two-three seasons after desilting

What happened in Akoladev was not an exception. A similar transformation, at an even greater scale, was visible in one of the most drought-prone districts - Beed.

The NGO Manavlok worked with thousands of farmers over the last few years to desilt six dams there and helped create an oasis right next to Latur, which has faced a terrible crisis

bloombergquint.com/opinion/2018/0…

On why @Dev_Fadnavis keeps on winning elections .... #TransformingMaharashtra

@Dev_Fadnavis By 2019, it is expected that there will be no water distress village in Maharashtra.

Expenditure on making the 25000 villages free from water distress would be about 30000 cr.....