Revival of Jayakwadi Damleft canal on cards

Aurangabad: The Department of Water Resources (DoWR) has decided to revive the 208-km-long left canal extended from Jayakwadi Dam (Paithan) to the Parbhani district and the adjoining small and large distributaries. Meanwhile, the preliminary estimate prepared by a private agency appointed to survey these canals stated that it would take Rs 3,000 crore to repair the canal and other distributaries. It may be noted that Jayakwadi Dam was built upon the Godavari river passing through Paithan way back in 1972. After a few years gap, the left canal was constructed till Parbhani. Besides, a network of hundreds of kilometres of main distributaries and minor distributaries are connected to this main canal. The water is being supplied for agricultural purposes in Aurangabad, Jalna and Parbhani districts through this canal for the past four decades or more. Now, this distribution system has been weakened as many deep cracks have been formed at different spots, apart from wild bushes at several places, in the canal. Due to the formation of leakages and erosion of cement concrete’s surface level in the main canal, the carrying capacity of water has been reduced to 60 per cent. Besides, the circulation cycle has been affected. Considering this, the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) office has decided to undertake to repair the left canal. A private agency Yash Engineering was appointed to survey the canal and prepare the estimate for the project. The agency started the survey in June and it was told to complete the task and submit the report by December 2022.

The chief engineer Jayant Gawli said that the administration has taken the decision of extending the deadline for reporting till March-end. BGM Technology will be used for repairing the canals. It will speed up the work. Besides, the water carrying capacity will also get increase stressed the chief engineer.

Capacity to bring over 1.41 lakh hectares of land under irrigation

The dam’s left canal has the potential to bring under irrigation more than 1.41 lakh hectares of land spread in Aurangabad, Jalna and Parbhani districts. Although, in reality, irrigation is done on more than 1.28 lakh hectares of land only.