Incomplete projects rose steeply during DF rule.

The Times of India: Mumbai: Friday, May 11, 2012.

A Right to Information (RTI) query on pending irrigation projects shows the Democratic Front (DF) government in poor light, even as the Congress and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), take digs at each other over the issue.

In response to a query filed by social activist Chetan Kothari, the irrigation department said the number of incomplete/pending projects rose from 548 at the end of 1997 to 1,381 in 2007, an increase of over 2.5 times. The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party was in power in the state between 1995 and 1999.

Even unspent amount on the projects rose from Rs18,600 crore in 1997 to Rs40,050 crore in 2007, the query revealed.

While Kothari obtained information on pending irrigation projects till 2007, TOI got the latest statistics. A senior department official said there are 670-odd pending projects, involving an unspent amount of nearly Rs74,000 crore.

As per the 2011 statistics, 75 major irrigation projects, 128 medium irrigation projects and 543 small and minor irrigation projects are incomplete.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has directed that no new projects be taken up in the near future. Last week, he hinted at a shift in focus to minor irrigation schemes and improved planning to ensure farmers get more benefits from irrigation.