CHAPTER rV THE JAYAKWADI IRRlGATiON PROJECT- ITS HISTORY, SALIENT FEATURES AND DEVTLOPMENT 4.1 THE MARATHW ADA REGION Aurangabad Division, popularly known as Marathwada, comprises seven districts viz Aurangabad, Jalna. Bead, Parbhani. Nanded, Latur and Osmanabad Initiallv, Marathwada was a part of erstwhile Nizam's Hydrabad State It was merged in Maharashtra at the time of Re-organisation of States and became a part of the State The total geographical area of the region is 64.30 lakh hectares of which the cultivable area is 50 49 lakh hectares The area under forest is only 3 61 per cent The net area sown and the area sown more than once is 48.19 lakh hectares and 7 35 lakh hectares respectively. The land use pattern in the region is given in Table 4.1 TABLE 4 I - Land Utilisation Pattern in Marathwada Sr. Particulars AreaCOOOha.) No 1 Total geographical area 6430 2 Area under forest 232 3. Barren and unculturable land 96 4, Land put to non-agricultural uses 216 5. Culturable waste land 230 6. Permanent pasture and other land 284 7 Current fallows 551 8 Net area sown 4819 9. Area sown more than once 735 10. Total cropped area 5554 Marathwada is a pre-dominantly agricultural region where 82 per cent population depends on agriculture and allied activities for its subsistence The major portion of the region consists of medium black soil (57 per cent) Even deep black cotton soils also 71 covers most of the part (21 30 per cent) of the region. Shallow and coarse soils (21 70 per cent) are found in the hilly areas Food grain crops like jowar, bajra, rabi jowar, wheat, pulses, etc are mainly grown in this region which occupied more than 90 per cent of the cropped area Cotton is the principal cash crop of the region whereas sugarcane, banana and summer groundnut are other irrigated cash crops Godavari is the major river of Marathwada Other important rivers in the region are Puma, Dudhana, Manjra, Bendsura, Sindhphana, Terna, Manyad, lendi and Penganga Marathwada is divided into three zones, namely, assured rainfall zone, moderately high rainfall zone and scarcity zone The annual average rainfall is 600 mm Subramanian Committee' (1987) identified 23 talukas as drought-prone comprising 39 per cent area and 36 per cent population The irrigated area is only 12 per cent Although Marathwada region has a potential to achieve allround development, it is one of the backward regions of the State Agriculture is most backward and industrial advancement has just started The principal factors responsible for the backwardness of the region are - (i) Nizam ruled the region for centuries together and did nothing/Ver\' little for the development of the region (ii) The State government has not paid proper attention and the development of the region has been neglected during the planning period 72 (iii) Lastly, peoples in the region are also responsible to remain backward due to their traditional outlook, illiteracy, poverty, lithargic nature and lack of co-operation Even political leadership has failed to bring about the fruits of development in the region 4.2 WATER RESOURCES IN MARATHWADA Table 4 2 indicates the total water resources available in Marathwada in Godavari basin and its sub-basins TABLE J 2 - Basinwise Availabilitv of Water Resources in Marathwada Sr Basin/Sub-basin Total available Before 1975 Sanctioned Total No water resources (TMC) Utilisation (TMC) after 1975 15% dependability (TMC ) 1 Godavari (Lpto Paithan Dam) 196 76 S28 204 7 Godavari basin (Below Paithan Dam) (a) Lendi 14.20 2.85 4.53 738 (b) Manar 22.80 !! 46 4.40 1586 (c) Sindhaphana 18.00 4.90 20 70 25.60 (d) Godavari, Dudhana and Purna (Below Sidheshwar Dam) 104.88 3 1.40 30.45 6! 85 Total : 159 88 50 61 60 08 110.69 _•) Puma (Llpto Sidheshw arDam) 45 50 Total available water 46 20 4. Pcnganga (Upto Saha^.trakund ) 55.80 Total available water 55.20 5. Manjra 41,10 9.00 22.17 3T17 Grand Total - 499.28 — ~ 447.26 S.ource - Marathwada 2001, Marathwada Development Council. Aurangabad, Pan - 3, 1988, pp.23-24. Note- The krishna-Godavari Tribunal has allocated only 60 TMC and 22 TMC. of water to Maharashtra State in Godavari and Manjra basin respectively 73 4.3 IRRIGATION DEV ELOPMENT IN fVlARATHWADA Before Independence, irrigation facilities available in Marathwada region were veiy meagre and the only source of irrigation was wells. Very few minor irrigation tanks were in operation in Nanded district irrigating some hundred acres. Infiltration galleiy (Khajana Well) near Beed town was a historical source of irrigation which irrigated nearly 200 hectares of land In short, the former Hydrabad State believed that irrigation development was not possible due to non-vailability of dam sites in Marathwada. Rooty was the first medium irrigation project ever undertaken in 1940 as a famine relief work in Ashti taluka of Beed district Six medium projects like Bendsura, Khasapur. Talwar, Kamli, etc., two bandharas and few minor schemes were investigated and undertaken in the First Five Year Plan When Marathwada region was merged in the Maharashtra State, only two medium projects were in Beed district having a irrigation potential of 3150 hectares. The sourcewise area irrigated in different parts of the State during 1956-59 is presented in Table 4.3 TABLE 4 3 ; - Area Irrigated by Different Sources in Maharashtra (1956-59). (Area in Percentage) Sr Region Gross Net Govt Private Tanks Wells Others No. Irriaated Irrigated Canals Canals (old) Sources Area Area (%) /O/ \ ( /o) (%) (%) (%) 1, Western Maharashtra 8 1 82 31 4 1 61 4 2. Konkan 2.2 95 2 24 4 55 15 3 Marathwada 3.1 84 2 - 3 94 1 4. Vidarbha 5.3 100 15 - 67 15 "> -» J Total : - 5.8 87 i"> J 19 52 4 Source : - Maharashtra State In'igation Commission Report, 1962, Table 10, p 248, 74 The Table reveals that the irrigation development was quite uneven in the State as only 3 per cent area was under irrigation in Marathwada and 8 per cent in Western Maharashtra Moreover, well was the principal source of irrigation irrigating about 94 per cent area. The area under canals was only 2 per cent in Marathwada whereas it was 35 per cent in the case of Western Maharashtra The development of irrigation in the region got momentum only after the re­ organisation of the State in general and from the Third plan in particular In the Second Plan, one major project namely, the Purna, 15 medium projects and few minor works were included besides the spilled projects from the First Plan Manar, Kayadhu and Jayakwadi Stage - [ were undertaken as major projects and 13 as medium projects in the Third Plan The Purna and Manar projects were completed before the advent of Fourth Plan. But there was a large spill over of medium and major projects from the Third to the Fourth Plan Jayakwadi-State - 11 was taken as a major project in this period Beside few medium projects, major projects like Dudhana, Terna and Upper Penganga, were taken up during the Fifth Pland period The work of Vishnupuri, Lendi and Nandur Madhmeshwar was in the initial stage During the Sixth Five Year Plan, only 3 medium projects have been taken up due to large spill over costs of the ongoing projects Two major projects viz Jayakwadi Stage - I and Manjra, and 9 medium projects were completed Substantial progress has been achieved on the Terna and Vishnupuri projects also 75 In view of the severe financial constraints as well as rising cost of the balance work of the on-going projects, it was extremely difficult to commence new projects during the Seventh Plan However, as removal of backlog in irrigation development was one of the principal objectives during the Seventh Plan, 6 new medium projects were taken up during this plan period. The Majalgaon dam has been completed while the dam portion of Tema and head-works of Vishnupuri project were completed About 5 medium projects have also been completed in this period Due to the large spillover costs of the ongoing projects and also severe financial cruch, the number of new projects during the Eighth Plan period has been kept to a minimun The emphasis has been laid on the completion of on-going projects which are in an advanced stage, removal of backlog in irrigation development and extending irrigation facilities to the drought prone areas. The works of major projects like Penganga, Vishnupuri and Dudhana and 4 medium projects are expected to be completed during the Eighth Plan period. L'ptill now, 4 major, 65 medium, 561 minor projects and 109 lift irrigation schemes were completed and irrigation potential so far created therefrom was 6 7.^ lakh hectares About 224 major, medium and minor projects having ,3 36 lakh hectares irrigation potential are under constniction The irrigation potential of 278 future medium and minor projects to be undertaken is 1 19 lakh hectares In this way, the ultimate irrigation potential of 11.28 lakh hectares would be created by construcfing nearly 124! major, medium and minor projects and lift irrigation schemes in Marathwada region Total number of major, medium and minor projects completed, under construction, to be undertaken and the irrigation potential created/ to be created therefrom is given in Table 4.4. 7G TABLIL4j4 : - [rrigation Projects and Ultimate Irrigation Potential in Marathwada (In lakh hectares) Sr Projects Projects Irrigation Projects Irrigation Future Future Total Ultimate No. completed potential imdcr potential projects irrigation no. of irrigation created construction to be to be potential projects poleiuial created undertaken to be created 1.