Devidas Deshpande; Pune Mirror; Monday, November 22, 2010,
RTI plea reveals water ministry has diverted water from 43 dams to SEZs and big cities, violating provisions of water resources law. Government is pushing amendment to the law to validate their excesses, activists allege
Even as water scarcity continues to haunt the state despite sufficient rainfall, activists are crying hoarse over what they claim is water theft by the state government.
The activists say the government is diverting water meant for agricultural purposes to industries.
The objectionable ordinance
The Government of Maharashtra, under the initiative of Water Resources Ministry, passed an ordinance on September 17, 2010. The protesters claim that the ordinance is meant to legalise past inequitable decisions to take away water rights of farmers and give them to industries and big cities.
The said ordinance is in the process of being turned into law when the state legislature opens for its winter session in Nagpur on December 1.
The opposition
According to Bharat Patankar, who is leading the charge against the ordinance, the Higher Power Committee (HPC) under the leadership of the Water Minister has diverted a huge amount of irrigation water for non-irrigation use in the past five years.
The HPC was constituted vide a Government Resolution in 2003 and was authorised to distribute water. Water resources minister was the chairman of HPC and it had six ministers as its members.
Data collected under Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that water from 43 dams in the state has been diverted in this way. These decisions contradict the provision of ‘water entitlements to every farmer’ under the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) Act, 2005.
Various organisations have opposed these decisions by HPC and also challenged them in the courts and before MWRRA. But to escape from judicial review and people’s opposition, the Water Ministry has decided to amend the
MWRRA law and legalise all its decisions, the activists are alleging.
Sachin Warghade, from Resources and Livelihoods Group, Prayas Pune, said, “As per the MWRRA Act, farmers have the first right to the water. Over three lakh hectares of land under cultivation has been affected because of this illegal diversion of water. For example, water in Hetwane dam in Ratnagiri district was diverted to SEZ.
We filed a petition against this and similarly, B T Deshmukh filed a petition in the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court in another such case. This piled up pressure on HPC and to evade legal action, the ordinance was issued, which is being turned into a law.”
The activists have appealed to CM Prithviraj Chavan’s new cabinet, stating they will protest the passing of the bill. Senior leader N D Patil will participate in the protests along with Patankar, Ulka Mahajan and Surekha Dalvi. They are also demanding abolition of HPC.
The RTI effect
The protesters used RTI to unearth the data on the amount of water diverted from agricultural use to industrial purpose. The data, given from the minutes of the HPC’s meetings, showed that 2,885 million cubic metres (MCM) water from 43 dams was diverted for non-irrigation purposes.
Activists say the actual amount of water being diverted is much more. Data from RTI also showed that the state agriculture minister, who is supposed to represent farmers, was absent in 69 per cent of the HPC meetings, out of total 25. While the committee had six ministers as members, only two attended the six meetings.
The minutes of the meetings show that MWRRA Act was not mentioned for even a single time.
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