Maha restores ''excess'' water supply to Pawar''s home turf

In another major reversal of a decision taken by the previous BJP regime, the Shiv Sena-NCP-

Congress government in Maharashtra on Wednesday restored the supply of water from the left bank canal of the Nira Deoghar

dam to Baramati, the pocketborough of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The state Cabinet under Chief Minister Uddhav

Thackeray decided to equally distribute water from the left and the right bank canals of the Nira Deoghar dam to the

command areas, an official release said. As per the decision, 55 per cent water will be

released in the left bank canal which will benefit Purander, Baramati and Indapur talukas while the right bank canal will

get 45 per cent water which will be utilised for Pandharpur, Sangola,Khandala,Phaltan, and Malshiras talukas.

The water will be made available for the purpose of drinking, industrial use and agriculture.

Last June, the Fadnavis government had cleared a proposal to cut off the supply of "unused" water from the Nira

Deoghar dam to parts of Baramati, Indapur and Purandar in Pune district, arguing that these areas were located outside the

notified command area of the dam. Pawar's NCP is the main constituent of the Shiv Sena-

led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, along with the Congress.