Maha to draft sustainable rehab plan for flood-hit parts: CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced that the state government would draft a sustainable rehabilitation plan for the flood-hit parts of the state with the help of the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Due to heavy rainfall, several districts of Maharashtra witnessed devastating floods last month, with Sangli and Kolhapur becoming the worst-hit districts. Severe floods in the five districts of western Maharashtra had claimed the lives of over 60 people.

The state had sought financial assistance of Rs 6,000 crore for carrying out the rehabilitation and relief works in the flood-hit regions. Representatives of the WB and the ADB had recently visited the flood-affected areas of Sangli and Kolhapur districts.

Fadnavis on Thursday chaired a meeting with the WB and ADB representatives here, which was attended by state chief secretay Ajoy Mehta and officials from the departments concerned. "The state will take all the efforts for the development of a comprehensive and sustainable rehabilitation plan. It also includes diversion of excess water to arid regions of the state," Fadnavis said.

"Contrasting situations are frequently seen in Maharashtra, where one region faces acute water shortage, while the other is troubled with the excess of it," he said. The recent records showed that Mahabaleshwar (in Satara district) recorded one of the highest precipitations in the country, while another area around 80 kms away in the same district was reeling under water shortage, the chief minister added.

"It is necessary to draft a comprehensive and sustainable rehabilitation plan to face such situation. Expertise available with the WB and the ADB have the experience of dealing with such situations, which will be help the state to draft similar plans," he said.

The state government has already announced implementation of an Rs 16,000 crore water grid scheme for the Marathwada region, where a sizeable amount of water from western Maharashtra will be diverted to meet the irrigation and drinking water demands..

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