Mumbai, With several parts of Maharashtra facing drought conditions, state Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil has claimed his department has not received funds from the Centre since September 2024.
The situation would have been different had the money been provided, the Shiv Sena leader said on Tuesday.
At present, 700 tankers are supplying water in four districts of the state Ahilyanagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna and Nashik, he said.
"We haven't got the money since September 2024 as expected. The state government gave funds from its own kitty...The picture would have been different had we got the money. Contractors, villagers, farmers and MLAs blame us ," said Patil, who represents the Jalgaon Rural assembly constituency in North Maharashtra.
"There are many projects where 80-90 per cent of the work has been completed. If we get money, we can complete some work by December, and the number of tankers can be brought down," he added.
The Sena leader said he hoped that Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil, who hails from Maharashtra, will look into the issue.
A region-wise and assembly constituency-wise review was being conducted to prepare for tackling the situation in the months to come, he stated.
Last month, the Maharashtra government declared drought in 265 of its 358 talukas, or 74 per cent of the state, amid rainfall deficit and announced relief measures, including crop loan restructuring, land revenue concessions, and power bill subsidies.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division has the highest number of drought-affected talukas with 74, followed by Amravati with 56, Nashik with 49, Nagpur with 39, Pune with 35 and Thane with 12. One taluka in Raigad, three in Ratnagiri and eight in Sindhudurg have been included in the list.
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