26 dams hit zero water storage level

Mumbai: Twenty six reservoirs in Maharashtra have reached zero storage as on May 18, according to statistics put out by the Water Conservation department of the state government.

The department’s website informed that water storage in Aurangabad Division, which comprises Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Parbhani and Osmanabad districts, was 0.43 per cent as against 23.44 per cent at the same time last year.

According to the department, the dams includes Paithan, Manjara, Majalgaon, Yeldari, Siddeshwar, Lower Terna, Sina Kolegaon and Lower Dhudna in these divisions. All of them have zero storage at present.

The department informed that the storage in these dams in May last year was 34.95 per cent in Paithan, 21.24 per cent in Manjara, 17.5 per cent in Majalgaon and 52.03 per cent in Lower Terna.

Other dams that have hit the zero storage level as on May 18 are Kadakpurna and Pentakli in Buldhana, Gosikhurd, Dina and Nand in Nagpur Division, Upper Tapi Hathnur in Jalgaon, Waki, Bham, Bhavli and Pune-gaon in Nashik Division, Dibhe, Ghod, Pimpalgaon Joge, Wadaj and Temghar in Pune, Bhima, Kundali Tata and Lonavala Tata in Solapur.

It said that water storage in the state’s 103 large, medium and small reservoirs stood at 11.84 per cent, against 23.73 per cent last year.

A social activist, Sanjay Lakhe Patil, alleged that the state government’s distribution of fodder camps for cattle in the drought-affected regions was not proper.

Mr Patil said, “Only the strong political leaders got cattle camps, fodder, water in their districts in large numbers, whereas drought relief should have been distributed equitably.”