Maharashtra to map irrigated land with drones soon

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided to map the irrigated land with the help of drone technology. At present, the government has no scientific mechanism to establish the exact land under irrigation.

A 2012 Maharashtra economic survey had stated that the state's irrigation potential had increased by only 0.1 per cent during the past decade, after Rs 70,000 crore had been spent. This had kicked the controversy alleging Congress-NCP government for corruption.

“We are going to use drone technology for exact land mapping under the irrigation which currently is done manually. Now the scientific technology is available and hence we are adopting that. Within a few months the data compilation will begin,” water resources minister, Girish Mahajan told The Asian Age.

An official from the department said that the satellite technology and drone are the latest two technologies to map the land as well as irrigated land. “The photos taken from the drone will be superimposed on the actual maps. This will have a real picture of the irrigation sources and the land under cultivation. Sometimes, the figures are manipulated when done manually,” the official said. Earlier, Chitale committee had reported that the state has no proper mechanism to map the irrigated land.

Meanwhile, the government has changed its policy for contractors who demand more funds for irrigation project than approved, under the name of additional expenditure. “We receive many requests from the contractors asking for additional funds for the project after the final approval. There are some genuine cases but there has to be some norms to approve the revised cost. It was then decided that maximum 5 crore or 5 per cent (whichever is less) of the project cost can be approved as the additional cost,” the official said.