The construction of the Shah Canal, which will bring the state’s share of irrigation water from Pong Dam to farmers of Kangra district after a wait of about 40 years, is complete.

Relief to farmers hurt by Ajit Pawar’s remark

Even if Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar responded to the demand for water in Solapur in crude terms, the Bombay High Court has stepped in to give relief to farmers in the parched district in western Maharashtra.
The court on Tuesday asked the State government to release water from upstream reservoirs to the Ujani dam which is bone dry. On a public interest litigation petition, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M.S. Sanklecha directed that as much water as possible be released within 24 hours.

Recalling that the IAMWARM Scheme was being implemented since 2005 with financial assistance from the World Bank, the CM said, the corrected estimate of the scheme was Rs 2,816 crore.

The Tillari irrigation project coordination committee has decided to stop release of water in the canal for one month every year to carryout maintenance work of the Tillari canal.

For farmers of Droli Bhai and Ghal Kalan villages, which are among the biggest in this constituency, the lack of canal water is the biggest issue.

Worst sufferers are the farmers whose land is situated at the tail-end of canals. Seventy-year-old Sukhdev Singh’s farm house is located 50 m from the Kingwa distributary in Droli Bhai village. His seven-acre farm is situated alongside the water body. But this is not helping him in any way. Sometimes water does not even come up to the level of the outlet leading to his fields.

State to benefit as Centre plans to hike its share

The Union Government proposes to reward states that levy charges for canal water supply to the farm sector. Official sources said that the Centre would contribute an equal amount to what would be collected by the state government as water charges from the farmers. Punjab is one of the states that provide canal water free of cost to the farmers. Earlier, the state government used to levy “abiyana” on the farmers but it was abolished some years ago.

14 Deaths Reported Last Year

Pune: The estimated tiger population in the state has increased from 169 (in 2010) to around 200 at present. While the population has increased, one of the major concerns for the government is poaching. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said that the government is taking strong steps to curb poaching of tigers and other wild animals.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting of the state wildlife board, Chavan said it has been found that tigers are being poached by electrocution. MSEDCL’s 11 KW lines pass from four tiger sanctuaries. The poachers use wires attached with hooks to draw current from the overhead high tension lines and electrocute tigers.

The state energy department has proposed to impose a special cess on industrial water consumers for maintenance of water reservoirs. The proposal is aimed at reducing energy tariff as hydro power generators include maintenance expenditure while quoting rates for sale of electricity.

"A corpus should be created by imposing a levy on the industries drawing water from different reservoirs for the purpose of maintenance of reservoirs and water sources by making periodical dredging and removal of shoals,” energy secretary P K Jena wrote to the water resources department.

The construction of the Ravi-Tawi Irrigation Canal project from Basantpur to upstream of Ranjit Sagar Dam in Kathua district has become the victim of political differences between two Cabinet minis