Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Maharashtra’s water crisis
Although Maharashtra is one of India’s most developed states, a large part of its population suffers severe and chronic water scarcity. The problem is not generally experienced or even realised in upper middle class enclaves of cities like Mumbai and Pune. However, as you move away from these privileged areas, women walking or standing in queue to collect water is a familiar sight across the state.
In nearly 70% of the state’s villages (around 27,600 villages), water is either not available within 500 metres or is not available 15 metres below the ground. Or it is not potable (World Bank, Promoting Agricultural Growth in Maharashtra, Volume 1, 2003, henceforth WB-AGM).
Around a fourth of the state’s rural households do not have secure access to drinking water (NSSO 1999), and nearly half the rural households in the state do not get safe drinking water (Human Development Report Maharashtra 2002).
Household surveys for World Bank projects indicate that average time spent in collecting water by rural households in Maharashtra is two hours a day; using ‘opportunity cost’ principles that translates to Rs 12 per household per day. During summer, the time and cost increases as sources dry up. Every year the state government spends around Rs 100 crore on supplying water on an emergency basis to severely water-starved villages.
The water problem causes enormous daily hardship to women and, coupled with poor sanitation facilities, leads to three kinds of health problems: ‘water wash’ ailments like conjunctivitis, caused by contact with poor quality water; diseases like dengue caused by water stagnation; and waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, which is the leading cause of infant deaths.
While India’s Millennium Development Goal Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) target is 28 per 1,000 by the year 2015, in many districts of Maharashtra such as Nashik, Jalna, Yavatmal, Buldhana, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, the IMR is above 75 per 1,000.
Shortage of water directly impacts livelihoods. Although Maharashtra is among India’s most urbanised states, around 60% of its population still lives in rural areas. Even this figure is misleading, for urbanisation is heavily skewed towards the Mumbai region. In western Maharashtra and Vidarbha, around three-fourths of the population lives in rural areas; in Marathwada, 85% of the population is rural.
Hence, agriculture remains the main source of livelihood in the state. While it accounts for roughly 55% of overall employment in the state, in rural areas, 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture, either as cultivators (42%) or labourers (38%).
There can be no agriculture without water, and adequate access to this resource has been crippled by various factors in Maharashtra.
Limited irrigation potential
Rainfall in Maharashtra is uneven. While the Sahyadris (Western Ghats) and Konkan receive heavy rainfall (around 2,000 mm), most of this water, which accounts for nearly half the total water available in the state, flows into the Arabian Sea; only 5% of it is used. To the east of the Sahyadris, the rainfall drops drastically to 600 or even 500 mm; it then increases as one moves towards Vidarbha, where rainfall of around 1,400 mm is reported.
Due to this uneven rainfall pattern and geological conditions, the First Irrigation Commission of Maharashtra, constituted in 1962, estimated that only 30% of the state’s total cultivable area can be brought under surface and groundwater irrigation.
Until recent years, successive governments have been lethargic in working towards realising even this potential. The percentage of gross irrigated area to gross cropped area in Maharashtra in 2002-03 was only 16.4, substantially lower than the all-India ratio of 38.7. The percentage was about the same a decade earlier.
Poor surface irrigation
The Maharashtra Water and Irrigation Commission constituted by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) in 1995 estimated that out of the state’s total cultivable land area of 22.54 million hectares, 8.5 million hectares can be brought under surface irrigation.
However, at an aggregate investment of Rs 269 trillion since 1950, at current prices (WB-AGM), the area brought under surface irrigation in Maharashtra is only 3.86 million hectares. Even this achievement is an exaggeration. Only 1.23 million hectares, or around a third of the potential created, is actually irrigated by canals; another 0.44 million hectares was irrigated by wells in command areas of irrigation projects.
Among other reasons, the GoM’s Report on Benchmarking of Irrigation Projects in Maharashtra 2003-04 lists the following as causes for poor realisation of surface irrigation potential:
“Taking more percentage of crops that require more water like paddy and sugarcane.”
Thin and scattered irrigation resulting in low efficiency.
Reduction in storage capacity due to silting.
Poor maintenance of infrastructure due to financial constraints.
Non-participation of beneficiaries.
In recent years, investments in major and medium irrigation structures (excluding market borrowing by corporations like the Maharashtra Krishna Development Corporation) account, on average, for about 28% of the state government’s annual capital expenditure. However, the investment does not and will not translate into a proportionate increase in area covered by surface irrigation. There are three main reasons for this.
Firstly, its record of executing irrigation works on time is poor. The GoM’s financial position is poor; the situation demands close monitoring of ongoing works rather than heavy new investments. However, for political reasons, the emphasis is on inaugurating new projects rather than completing ongoing ones. As a result, funds are thinly spread and delays are inevitable.
The 2001-02 Comptroller and Auditor General of India ( CAG) civil audit report for Maharashtra noted that, as of March 31, 2002, there were 117 incomplete irrigation projects in the state, in which around Rs 3,250 crore was blocked. Of these projects, six had remained incomplete for five to 10 years, two projects had remained incomplete for 15 to 20 years, and two projects had remained incomplete for over 20 years! The total amount blocked in projects delayed by over five years was around Rs 140 crore. In the case of 15 projects, involving around Rs 190 crore, details were not even made available.
CAG civil audit reports listed several bizarre states of incompletion, such as dams without canals, canals without dams, and dams incomplete even after actual expenditure incurred was 10 times the estimated expenditure. The worst part was that in 14 major, 24 medium, and 67 minor irrigation projects work had been abandoned after an expenditure of around Rs 27 billion, simply because the projects had become unviable due to cost escalation -- the only people to gain from this criminal waste of public money were the contractors.
Secondly, irrigation projects are not often designed to extract maximum irrigation returns. Apart from sheer incompetence at the planning stage, lobbying can play a big negative role. A classic example is the Jayakwadi project in Phaltan, which is often considered the pride of Maharashtra. There is no village by that name near the dam. The project gets its name because it was originally supposed to be located at a village called Jaykuchiwadi in Majalgaon taluka of Beed. The location to which it has been shifted is remarkably unsuitable for a dam -- the terrain is flat. As a result, the dam spans an extraordinary distance of over 10 km; its height above the ground is just 40 feet. The length of the Majalgaon right bank canal had to be reduced from the originally estimated 148 km to 84 km. Accordingly, the potential area to be brought under irrigation was reduced by half.
Thirdly, irrigation projects are meeting rising demand for water from residential and industrial sectors. In most of the major and medium irrigation projects, water reserved for domestic and industrial use varies from between 15% and 25%. In years of poor rainfall, this goes up to 50%. In 2003-04, out of the total water made available from irrigation projects, 31% was used for non-irrigation purposes -- to meet drinking water demand in cities and the needs of industries.
Significantly, while agriculture is directly related to life and livelihood of the majority of the state’s population, allocation of water resources to agriculture is accorded third priority in the GoM’s Maharashtra State Water Policy (2003), below the allocation for industrial and commercial use. This prioritisation calls into question the sense of using the term ‘irrigation’ in connection with these projects. It also reflects the government’s interest in strengthening the agriculture sector vis-à-vis the industrial sector.
Groundwater exploitation
As in the rest of the country, groundwater is the main source of water for irrigation in Maharashtra. While surface water from canals and tanks accounts for around 21% and 14% respectively of the state’s net irrigated area, groundwater primarily drawn from borewells using pumps accounts for around 60% of the net irrigated area.
The Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA) of the GoM has identified 2,841 watershed units in the state (GSDA had earlier arrived at a figure of 1,505 watersheds. This figure, which continues to be routinely quoted, was revised following new methodology recommended by the Groundwater Estimation Committee constituted by the Government of India in 1997. The new method involves delineation of sub-units based on irrigated and non-irrigated areas).
Of these 2,841 units, in 1997, 132 watershed units were declared ‘overexploited’ -- extraction exceeded recharge; 275 were in a ‘critical’ state, and another 64 were in a ‘semi-critical’ state. These numbers probably do not reflect the true picture. As banks are not allowed to advance loans for borewells in ‘overexploited’ watersheds, there are strong political compulsions not to declare an area ‘overexploited’. In any case, the GSDA estimate presents a macro-level picture. The micro or village-level picture (see ‘ Rampant overuse of groundwater in drought-prone parts of Maharashtra’) shows rampant overexploitation of groundwater.
Groundwater extraction and lifting of surface water from tanks is encouraged by subsidies for electricity used to run irrigation pump sets (IPS). Obviously, these subsidies can be enjoyed only by relatively well-to-do farmers, who can afford to buy IPS and pipes in the first place.
Of the total number of farmers in the state, only 13% have IPS, and the main beneficiaries of both groundwater resources as well as electricity subsidies are 3% of the total number of farmers in the state who have IPS and grow cash crops like sugarcane and banana. Medium and large farmers with large holdings above two hectares buy several pump sets and account for nearly 80% of the area under groundwater irrigation.
Groundwater extraction by this creamy layer of farmers has multiplied indiscriminately, with little or absolutely no concern for drinking and agriculture water needs of other people living in the same village or the needs of the state as a whole. The number of IPS in the state increased by nearly 30% in less than a decade -- from 1.6 million in 1990-91 to 2.2 million in 1998-99. While consumption of electricity by all sectors in the state grew in the 1990s by around 7% per annum, IPS consumption increased by over 13% per annum.
The subsidised consumption cost the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) over Rs 1,000 crore in 1993-94 -- equivalent to the capital cost of about half the power-generation capacity addition required in that year. According to latest GoM figures, the number of IPS is estimated at 2.4 million; they account for 25% to 30% of the state’s total power consumption and cost the exchequer Rs 1,600 crore in subsidies.
Maharashtra was among the first states in the country to introduce legislation to check groundwater exploitation, but the law is violated with impunity and has done little good. Generally, cash crop-growing IPS users suffer only one check: power cuts. IPS are not put off; whenever there is power they are working, pumping out water for an average of seven to eight hours a day, irrespective of the crop’s actual water needs.
Unchecked by law and enjoying social sanction, groundwater extraction has crossed the danger mark in many districts of the state and caused enormous hardship to the poor. Many drinking water wells, most of which are 90 to 150 feet deep, have dried up. Due to increasing ‘competition’ for groundwater, the watertable has dropped by over 300 feet in many villages, especially in the sugarcane-growing areas of Sangli, Satara, Nashik, Latur, Beed, Osmanabad and Solapur districts (Maharashtra Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project II Environmental Analysis Study for the World Bank, 2003).
Over-extraction of groundwater has several grave implications:
The poor are hit first and hardest. While large farmers are able to dig new wells or deepen existing wells, small and marginal farmers suffer poor quality water and falling well yields.
Groundwater sources can become polluted by pesticides, fertilisers and industrial waste. The toxins damage the health of people who use groundwater as drinking water and can also be taken up by crops, which will contaminate food supplies. High concentrations of nitrate in groundwater, a result of excessive use of chemical fertiliser, is already reported in Sangli, Solapur, Satara, Nagpur, Yavatmal, Bhandara, Beed, Osmanabad, Thane and Parbhani districts.
Underground layers of rock or soil that transmit water, known as aquifers, naturally discharge into rivers and other waterbodies during dry periods, thereby sustaining natural vegetation. Over-extraction empties aquifers and causes springs to dry up. In arid and semi-arid regions, such as drought-prone areas of Maharashtra, these springs feed wild vegetation, serve as drinking water sources in extreme dry periods, and are a stopping point for birds. Empty aquifers will lead to a collapse of the ecosystem. The land will become a desert, unable to sustain any significant amount of human, plant or animal life.
If overexploitation of groundwater resources continues unchecked, the future is clear:
Groundwater-based agriculture will collapse.
Water quality will drop.
Many villages will be depopulated.
Importantly, these impacts -- which are already being felt, in varying degrees -- will be the result of pandering to the needs of a minority of farmers. A World Bank report, Maharashtra: Reorienting Government to Facilitate Growth and Reduce Poverty, Vol I, (2002), presents an accurate picture of the state’s skewed irrigation policies:
‘Over 75% of the irrigation (from sources including canals and electricity-operated bore- and tubewells) benefits accrue to farmers with average farm holdings of more than two hectares. On the other hand, less than 10% of the irrigation benefits accrue to farmers whose average farm size is less than one hectare.’
The spectre of drought
Due to inherent geographical factors, aggravated by skewed irrigation policies, about 84% of the total cultivated area in Maharashtra is directly and entirely dependent on the monsoons. The odds are heavily stacked against many of these farmers. Around a third of the state receives scanty and erratic rainfall and hence is drought-prone.
Three GoM committees have, at different times, estimated the number of drought-prone talukas (tehsils) in the state and arrived at different figures, using different criteria like quantum of rainfall, soil moisture content, and gap between two consecutive rains.
Most recently, in July 2007, in the process of constituting a ‘dushkal mahamandal’, or ‘drought corporation’, the GoM listed 166 of the state’s 355 talukas as ‘drought-prone’ and hence eligible for whatever assistance the mahamandal might offer.
The list includes all 13 talukas of Ahmednagar, all 11 talukas of Solapur, and 13 of the 14 talukas in Nashik. There are no talukas from Bhandara and Gondia in Vidarbha and Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg from Konkan in the list. Much political heat was generated by the listing. The GoM had earlier proposed a list of only 90 talukas. After discussions during the 2006-07 budget session of the state assembly, the list was expanded. Ironically, the debate over the listing preceded the constitution of the mahamandal; till September 2007, there was no announcement about what the mahamandal would or wouldn’t do.
The political controversy overshadows a basic fact: a contiguous region, covering parts of western Maharashtra, much of Marathwada, and parts of Vidarbha, and extending to southern Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and northern Karnataka, is prone to drought. Every year, some or the other part of this region is affected by severe water scarcity. GoM figures for scarcity-affected villages over a 20-year period (between 1960 and 1982) show that the number of villages affected in a year varies from around 600 to over 14,000, out of a total of around 40,000 villages. In the historic 1972-73 drought, nearly 30,000 villages were affected.
Further, severe drought is experienced over large parts of the state every three to four years. Most recently, drought affected 11 districts of the state from 2000 onwards; in 2003-04, 71 talukas were declared to be affected by ‘severe drought’ (see box).
Severely drought-affected talukas in Maharashtra (2003-04)
District
Talukas
Solapur
Barshi, Karmala, Madha, Malshiras,Mangalvedha,Mohol, Pandharpur, Uttar Solapur,Sangola, Dakshin Solapur, Akkalkot
Sangli
Jat, Kavatemahankal, Tasgaon, Miraj, Khanapur,Atpadi, Kadegaon
Pune
Baramati, Daund, Indapur, Purandar, Shirur
Satara
Maan, Khatav, Khandala, Phaltan, Koregaon
Ahmednagar
Sangamner, Kopargaon, Shrirampur, Akola,Pathardi,Parner, Shrigonda, Ahmednagar,Rahata,Jamkhed, Shevgaon, Rahuri, Nevasa,Karjat
Nashik
Yevala, Sinner, Nandgaon, Chandvad, Devla,Malegaon
Beed
Parli, Kaij, Ashti, Patoda, Beed, Shirur, Wadvani
Osmanabad
Osmanabad, Tuljapur, Umarga, Lohara,Kalamb,Vashi, Bhum, Paranda
Aurangabad
Vaijapur, Gangapur
Latur
Latur, Renapur, Ausa, Nilanga
Jalna
Ambad, Ghansawangi
Source: GoM, Revenue and Forests Department, Revised Memorandum to the Government of India on Drought Relief and Mitigation in Maharashtra (2003-04)
As ascertained and reported by the GoM, drought had the following impacts:
In 6,742 villages, the paisewari (estimation of crop output) was less than 50% of the normal amount. Most of the villages were in Ahmednagar, Solapur, Osmanabad and Beed.
The kharif crop was estimated to be 50% of normal yields.
There was an overall drop in the state’s per hectare productivity of all major crop categories. Thus, while foodgrain productivity was expected to be 1,058 kg per hectare in 2002-03, it was actually 797 kg/ha.
Households above the poverty line were also affected, even people from relatively affluent families were working in Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) relief works. In November 2003, 3.50 lakh people chose to work under the EGS in the 11 affected districts. While the GoM spends Rs 650 to Rs 700 crore on the EGS in a ‘normal year’, it expected to spend Rs 1,600 crore in 2003-04, till June 2004.
While the government deployed 238 tankers across the state in November 2002, to supply drinking water, in November 2003 it deployed 1,616 tankers.
Till November 2003, the government had opened 400 cattle camps in drought-affected districts to feed 3.8 lakh animals.
The GoM added that the measures it had taken did not “reveal the endemic vulnerability, which has been part of the landscape”. The situation on the ground was “far too grim to be captured by the statistics”.
Civil society response
It was in response to this grim situation, which has not yet been addressed by a long-term drought mitigation policy, that a network of civil society organisations working in Maharashtra formed a drought forum called Dushkal Hatavu Manus Jagavu (DHMJ) (to read more about the DHMJ click here).
While the forum’s immediate priorities were ascertaining the multi-faced impacts of drought, and mobilising government relief, it also has the long-term vision of eradicating drought. This is not an impossible dream. While what is known as meteorological drought, characterised by low rainfall, is an unalterable reality, there is great scope for minimising the impact of meteorological drought.
Further, if rural poverty in Maharashtra is to be addressed, equitable and rational use of water and appropriate agriculture practices have to become the main item on the agenda of state policy.
The policy will have to include several innovative and bold measures, which can be implemented only with true people’s involvement. Civil society organisations (CSOs) and networks like the DHMJ can provide the necessary bridge between people and the government.
In nearly 70% of the state’s villages (around 27,600 villages), water is either not available within 500 metres or is not available 15 metres below the ground. Or it is not potable (World Bank, Promoting Agricultural Growth in Maharashtra, Volume 1, 2003, henceforth WB-AGM).
Around a fourth of the state’s rural households do not have secure access to drinking water (NSSO 1999), and nearly half the rural households in the state do not get safe drinking water (Human Development Report Maharashtra 2002).
Household surveys for World Bank projects indicate that average time spent in collecting water by rural households in Maharashtra is two hours a day; using ‘opportunity cost’ principles that translates to Rs 12 per household per day. During summer, the time and cost increases as sources dry up. Every year the state government spends around Rs 100 crore on supplying water on an emergency basis to severely water-starved villages.
The water problem causes enormous daily hardship to women and, coupled with poor sanitation facilities, leads to three kinds of health problems: ‘water wash’ ailments like conjunctivitis, caused by contact with poor quality water; diseases like dengue caused by water stagnation; and waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, which is the leading cause of infant deaths.
While India’s Millennium Development Goal Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) target is 28 per 1,000 by the year 2015, in many districts of Maharashtra such as Nashik, Jalna, Yavatmal, Buldhana, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, the IMR is above 75 per 1,000.
Shortage of water directly impacts livelihoods. Although Maharashtra is among India’s most urbanised states, around 60% of its population still lives in rural areas. Even this figure is misleading, for urbanisation is heavily skewed towards the Mumbai region. In western Maharashtra and Vidarbha, around three-fourths of the population lives in rural areas; in Marathwada, 85% of the population is rural.
Hence, agriculture remains the main source of livelihood in the state. While it accounts for roughly 55% of overall employment in the state, in rural areas, 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture, either as cultivators (42%) or labourers (38%).
There can be no agriculture without water, and adequate access to this resource has been crippled by various factors in Maharashtra.
Limited irrigation potential
Rainfall in Maharashtra is uneven. While the Sahyadris (Western Ghats) and Konkan receive heavy rainfall (around 2,000 mm), most of this water, which accounts for nearly half the total water available in the state, flows into the Arabian Sea; only 5% of it is used. To the east of the Sahyadris, the rainfall drops drastically to 600 or even 500 mm; it then increases as one moves towards Vidarbha, where rainfall of around 1,400 mm is reported.
Due to this uneven rainfall pattern and geological conditions, the First Irrigation Commission of Maharashtra, constituted in 1962, estimated that only 30% of the state’s total cultivable area can be brought under surface and groundwater irrigation.
Until recent years, successive governments have been lethargic in working towards realising even this potential. The percentage of gross irrigated area to gross cropped area in Maharashtra in 2002-03 was only 16.4, substantially lower than the all-India ratio of 38.7. The percentage was about the same a decade earlier.
Poor surface irrigation
The Maharashtra Water and Irrigation Commission constituted by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) in 1995 estimated that out of the state’s total cultivable land area of 22.54 million hectares, 8.5 million hectares can be brought under surface irrigation.
However, at an aggregate investment of Rs 269 trillion since 1950, at current prices (WB-AGM), the area brought under surface irrigation in Maharashtra is only 3.86 million hectares. Even this achievement is an exaggeration. Only 1.23 million hectares, or around a third of the potential created, is actually irrigated by canals; another 0.44 million hectares was irrigated by wells in command areas of irrigation projects.
Among other reasons, the GoM’s Report on Benchmarking of Irrigation Projects in Maharashtra 2003-04 lists the following as causes for poor realisation of surface irrigation potential:
“Taking more percentage of crops that require more water like paddy and sugarcane.”
Thin and scattered irrigation resulting in low efficiency.
Reduction in storage capacity due to silting.
Poor maintenance of infrastructure due to financial constraints.
Non-participation of beneficiaries.
In recent years, investments in major and medium irrigation structures (excluding market borrowing by corporations like the Maharashtra Krishna Development Corporation) account, on average, for about 28% of the state government’s annual capital expenditure. However, the investment does not and will not translate into a proportionate increase in area covered by surface irrigation. There are three main reasons for this.
Firstly, its record of executing irrigation works on time is poor. The GoM’s financial position is poor; the situation demands close monitoring of ongoing works rather than heavy new investments. However, for political reasons, the emphasis is on inaugurating new projects rather than completing ongoing ones. As a result, funds are thinly spread and delays are inevitable.
The 2001-02 Comptroller and Auditor General of India ( CAG) civil audit report for Maharashtra noted that, as of March 31, 2002, there were 117 incomplete irrigation projects in the state, in which around Rs 3,250 crore was blocked. Of these projects, six had remained incomplete for five to 10 years, two projects had remained incomplete for 15 to 20 years, and two projects had remained incomplete for over 20 years! The total amount blocked in projects delayed by over five years was around Rs 140 crore. In the case of 15 projects, involving around Rs 190 crore, details were not even made available.
CAG civil audit reports listed several bizarre states of incompletion, such as dams without canals, canals without dams, and dams incomplete even after actual expenditure incurred was 10 times the estimated expenditure. The worst part was that in 14 major, 24 medium, and 67 minor irrigation projects work had been abandoned after an expenditure of around Rs 27 billion, simply because the projects had become unviable due to cost escalation -- the only people to gain from this criminal waste of public money were the contractors.
Secondly, irrigation projects are not often designed to extract maximum irrigation returns. Apart from sheer incompetence at the planning stage, lobbying can play a big negative role. A classic example is the Jayakwadi project in Phaltan, which is often considered the pride of Maharashtra. There is no village by that name near the dam. The project gets its name because it was originally supposed to be located at a village called Jaykuchiwadi in Majalgaon taluka of Beed. The location to which it has been shifted is remarkably unsuitable for a dam -- the terrain is flat. As a result, the dam spans an extraordinary distance of over 10 km; its height above the ground is just 40 feet. The length of the Majalgaon right bank canal had to be reduced from the originally estimated 148 km to 84 km. Accordingly, the potential area to be brought under irrigation was reduced by half.
Thirdly, irrigation projects are meeting rising demand for water from residential and industrial sectors. In most of the major and medium irrigation projects, water reserved for domestic and industrial use varies from between 15% and 25%. In years of poor rainfall, this goes up to 50%. In 2003-04, out of the total water made available from irrigation projects, 31% was used for non-irrigation purposes -- to meet drinking water demand in cities and the needs of industries.
Significantly, while agriculture is directly related to life and livelihood of the majority of the state’s population, allocation of water resources to agriculture is accorded third priority in the GoM’s Maharashtra State Water Policy (2003), below the allocation for industrial and commercial use. This prioritisation calls into question the sense of using the term ‘irrigation’ in connection with these projects. It also reflects the government’s interest in strengthening the agriculture sector vis-à-vis the industrial sector.
Groundwater exploitation
As in the rest of the country, groundwater is the main source of water for irrigation in Maharashtra. While surface water from canals and tanks accounts for around 21% and 14% respectively of the state’s net irrigated area, groundwater primarily drawn from borewells using pumps accounts for around 60% of the net irrigated area.
The Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA) of the GoM has identified 2,841 watershed units in the state (GSDA had earlier arrived at a figure of 1,505 watersheds. This figure, which continues to be routinely quoted, was revised following new methodology recommended by the Groundwater Estimation Committee constituted by the Government of India in 1997. The new method involves delineation of sub-units based on irrigated and non-irrigated areas).
Of these 2,841 units, in 1997, 132 watershed units were declared ‘overexploited’ -- extraction exceeded recharge; 275 were in a ‘critical’ state, and another 64 were in a ‘semi-critical’ state. These numbers probably do not reflect the true picture. As banks are not allowed to advance loans for borewells in ‘overexploited’ watersheds, there are strong political compulsions not to declare an area ‘overexploited’. In any case, the GSDA estimate presents a macro-level picture. The micro or village-level picture (see ‘ Rampant overuse of groundwater in drought-prone parts of Maharashtra’) shows rampant overexploitation of groundwater.
Groundwater extraction and lifting of surface water from tanks is encouraged by subsidies for electricity used to run irrigation pump sets (IPS). Obviously, these subsidies can be enjoyed only by relatively well-to-do farmers, who can afford to buy IPS and pipes in the first place.
Of the total number of farmers in the state, only 13% have IPS, and the main beneficiaries of both groundwater resources as well as electricity subsidies are 3% of the total number of farmers in the state who have IPS and grow cash crops like sugarcane and banana. Medium and large farmers with large holdings above two hectares buy several pump sets and account for nearly 80% of the area under groundwater irrigation.
Groundwater extraction by this creamy layer of farmers has multiplied indiscriminately, with little or absolutely no concern for drinking and agriculture water needs of other people living in the same village or the needs of the state as a whole. The number of IPS in the state increased by nearly 30% in less than a decade -- from 1.6 million in 1990-91 to 2.2 million in 1998-99. While consumption of electricity by all sectors in the state grew in the 1990s by around 7% per annum, IPS consumption increased by over 13% per annum.
The subsidised consumption cost the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) over Rs 1,000 crore in 1993-94 -- equivalent to the capital cost of about half the power-generation capacity addition required in that year. According to latest GoM figures, the number of IPS is estimated at 2.4 million; they account for 25% to 30% of the state’s total power consumption and cost the exchequer Rs 1,600 crore in subsidies.
Maharashtra was among the first states in the country to introduce legislation to check groundwater exploitation, but the law is violated with impunity and has done little good. Generally, cash crop-growing IPS users suffer only one check: power cuts. IPS are not put off; whenever there is power they are working, pumping out water for an average of seven to eight hours a day, irrespective of the crop’s actual water needs.
Unchecked by law and enjoying social sanction, groundwater extraction has crossed the danger mark in many districts of the state and caused enormous hardship to the poor. Many drinking water wells, most of which are 90 to 150 feet deep, have dried up. Due to increasing ‘competition’ for groundwater, the watertable has dropped by over 300 feet in many villages, especially in the sugarcane-growing areas of Sangli, Satara, Nashik, Latur, Beed, Osmanabad and Solapur districts (Maharashtra Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project II Environmental Analysis Study for the World Bank, 2003).
Over-extraction of groundwater has several grave implications:
The poor are hit first and hardest. While large farmers are able to dig new wells or deepen existing wells, small and marginal farmers suffer poor quality water and falling well yields.
Groundwater sources can become polluted by pesticides, fertilisers and industrial waste. The toxins damage the health of people who use groundwater as drinking water and can also be taken up by crops, which will contaminate food supplies. High concentrations of nitrate in groundwater, a result of excessive use of chemical fertiliser, is already reported in Sangli, Solapur, Satara, Nagpur, Yavatmal, Bhandara, Beed, Osmanabad, Thane and Parbhani districts.
Underground layers of rock or soil that transmit water, known as aquifers, naturally discharge into rivers and other waterbodies during dry periods, thereby sustaining natural vegetation. Over-extraction empties aquifers and causes springs to dry up. In arid and semi-arid regions, such as drought-prone areas of Maharashtra, these springs feed wild vegetation, serve as drinking water sources in extreme dry periods, and are a stopping point for birds. Empty aquifers will lead to a collapse of the ecosystem. The land will become a desert, unable to sustain any significant amount of human, plant or animal life.
If overexploitation of groundwater resources continues unchecked, the future is clear:
Groundwater-based agriculture will collapse.
Water quality will drop.
Many villages will be depopulated.
Importantly, these impacts -- which are already being felt, in varying degrees -- will be the result of pandering to the needs of a minority of farmers. A World Bank report, Maharashtra: Reorienting Government to Facilitate Growth and Reduce Poverty, Vol I, (2002), presents an accurate picture of the state’s skewed irrigation policies:
‘Over 75% of the irrigation (from sources including canals and electricity-operated bore- and tubewells) benefits accrue to farmers with average farm holdings of more than two hectares. On the other hand, less than 10% of the irrigation benefits accrue to farmers whose average farm size is less than one hectare.’
The spectre of drought
Due to inherent geographical factors, aggravated by skewed irrigation policies, about 84% of the total cultivated area in Maharashtra is directly and entirely dependent on the monsoons. The odds are heavily stacked against many of these farmers. Around a third of the state receives scanty and erratic rainfall and hence is drought-prone.
Three GoM committees have, at different times, estimated the number of drought-prone talukas (tehsils) in the state and arrived at different figures, using different criteria like quantum of rainfall, soil moisture content, and gap between two consecutive rains.
Most recently, in July 2007, in the process of constituting a ‘dushkal mahamandal’, or ‘drought corporation’, the GoM listed 166 of the state’s 355 talukas as ‘drought-prone’ and hence eligible for whatever assistance the mahamandal might offer.
The list includes all 13 talukas of Ahmednagar, all 11 talukas of Solapur, and 13 of the 14 talukas in Nashik. There are no talukas from Bhandara and Gondia in Vidarbha and Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg from Konkan in the list. Much political heat was generated by the listing. The GoM had earlier proposed a list of only 90 talukas. After discussions during the 2006-07 budget session of the state assembly, the list was expanded. Ironically, the debate over the listing preceded the constitution of the mahamandal; till September 2007, there was no announcement about what the mahamandal would or wouldn’t do.
The political controversy overshadows a basic fact: a contiguous region, covering parts of western Maharashtra, much of Marathwada, and parts of Vidarbha, and extending to southern Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and northern Karnataka, is prone to drought. Every year, some or the other part of this region is affected by severe water scarcity. GoM figures for scarcity-affected villages over a 20-year period (between 1960 and 1982) show that the number of villages affected in a year varies from around 600 to over 14,000, out of a total of around 40,000 villages. In the historic 1972-73 drought, nearly 30,000 villages were affected.
Further, severe drought is experienced over large parts of the state every three to four years. Most recently, drought affected 11 districts of the state from 2000 onwards; in 2003-04, 71 talukas were declared to be affected by ‘severe drought’ (see box).
Severely drought-affected talukas in Maharashtra (2003-04)
District
Talukas
Solapur
Barshi, Karmala, Madha, Malshiras,Mangalvedha,Mohol, Pandharpur, Uttar Solapur,Sangola, Dakshin Solapur, Akkalkot
Sangli
Jat, Kavatemahankal, Tasgaon, Miraj, Khanapur,Atpadi, Kadegaon
Pune
Baramati, Daund, Indapur, Purandar, Shirur
Satara
Maan, Khatav, Khandala, Phaltan, Koregaon
Ahmednagar
Sangamner, Kopargaon, Shrirampur, Akola,Pathardi,Parner, Shrigonda, Ahmednagar,Rahata,Jamkhed, Shevgaon, Rahuri, Nevasa,Karjat
Nashik
Yevala, Sinner, Nandgaon, Chandvad, Devla,Malegaon
Beed
Parli, Kaij, Ashti, Patoda, Beed, Shirur, Wadvani
Osmanabad
Osmanabad, Tuljapur, Umarga, Lohara,Kalamb,Vashi, Bhum, Paranda
Aurangabad
Vaijapur, Gangapur
Latur
Latur, Renapur, Ausa, Nilanga
Jalna
Ambad, Ghansawangi
Source: GoM, Revenue and Forests Department, Revised Memorandum to the Government of India on Drought Relief and Mitigation in Maharashtra (2003-04)
As ascertained and reported by the GoM, drought had the following impacts:
In 6,742 villages, the paisewari (estimation of crop output) was less than 50% of the normal amount. Most of the villages were in Ahmednagar, Solapur, Osmanabad and Beed.
The kharif crop was estimated to be 50% of normal yields.
There was an overall drop in the state’s per hectare productivity of all major crop categories. Thus, while foodgrain productivity was expected to be 1,058 kg per hectare in 2002-03, it was actually 797 kg/ha.
Households above the poverty line were also affected, even people from relatively affluent families were working in Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) relief works. In November 2003, 3.50 lakh people chose to work under the EGS in the 11 affected districts. While the GoM spends Rs 650 to Rs 700 crore on the EGS in a ‘normal year’, it expected to spend Rs 1,600 crore in 2003-04, till June 2004.
While the government deployed 238 tankers across the state in November 2002, to supply drinking water, in November 2003 it deployed 1,616 tankers.
Till November 2003, the government had opened 400 cattle camps in drought-affected districts to feed 3.8 lakh animals.
The GoM added that the measures it had taken did not “reveal the endemic vulnerability, which has been part of the landscape”. The situation on the ground was “far too grim to be captured by the statistics”.
Civil society response
It was in response to this grim situation, which has not yet been addressed by a long-term drought mitigation policy, that a network of civil society organisations working in Maharashtra formed a drought forum called Dushkal Hatavu Manus Jagavu (DHMJ) (to read more about the DHMJ click here).
While the forum’s immediate priorities were ascertaining the multi-faced impacts of drought, and mobilising government relief, it also has the long-term vision of eradicating drought. This is not an impossible dream. While what is known as meteorological drought, characterised by low rainfall, is an unalterable reality, there is great scope for minimising the impact of meteorological drought.
Further, if rural poverty in Maharashtra is to be addressed, equitable and rational use of water and appropriate agriculture practices have to become the main item on the agenda of state policy.
The policy will have to include several innovative and bold measures, which can be implemented only with true people’s involvement. Civil society organisations (CSOs) and networks like the DHMJ can provide the necessary bridge between people and the government.
Madha (Lok Sabha constituency) - Our village is in this constituency
Madha Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies of Maharashtra state in western India. This constituency came into existence in 2008 as a part of the implementation of the Presidential notification based on recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002. It constitutes Karmala, Madha, Sangola, and Malshiras tehsils of Solapur district and Phaltan and Maan tehsils of Satara district.
Contents[hide]
1 Assembly segments
2 Members of Parliament
3 Election results
3.1 General elections 2009
4 See also
5 References
//
[edit] Assembly segments
At present, Madha Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments. These segments are[1]:
Karmala
Madha
Sangole
Malsiras
Phaltan
Man
[edit] Members of Parliament
2009: Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party
[edit] Election results
[edit] General elections 2009
General Election, 2009: Madha
Contents[hide]
1 Assembly segments
2 Members of Parliament
3 Election results
3.1 General elections 2009
4 See also
5 References
//
[edit] Assembly segments
At present, Madha Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments. These segments are[1]:
Karmala
Madha
Sangole
Malsiras
Phaltan
Man
[edit] Members of Parliament
2009: Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party
[edit] Election results
[edit] General elections 2009
General Election, 2009: Madha
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Maandesh -
Maandesh........
Maandesh is an infrequently used name to refer to a hot and dry region of South Maharashtra spread over the corners of three districts: Sangli, Sholapur and Satara.
The region is said to include all the 90 odd villages of the Maan-Dahivadi taluka of Satara district; all 60 odd villages of the Atpadi taluka, around 12 villages of Kavthe Mahankal taluka and 28 villages of Jath taluka of Sangli district; almost all of Sangola taluka (around 81 villages), around 20 villages of Mangalvedha taluka and 12 villages of Pandharpur taluka of Sholapur district.
During British rule, there was a sub-division of the then Satara district called Maan, which covered much of this area. There are also medieval references to a region called Maandesh. Today however, Maandesh is not a recognised administrative unit and most people outside the region would not be able to identify its boundaries.
Maandesh is a semiarid, dusty plainThe name is most probably derived from `Maan’, the name of the 163-km long river that flows through this region, The Maan, a tributary of the Bhima, itself a tributary of the Krishna, is not much of a river; it is dry for most of the year. But along its banks, and along the banks of streams and rivulets that join in it, the soil is black. The rest of Maandesh is a semiarid, dusty plain with rocky soil and bare hillocks...........
The region is said to include all the 90 odd villages of the Maan-Dahivadi taluka of Satara district; all 60 odd villages of the Atpadi taluka, around 12 villages of Kavthe Mahankal taluka and 28 villages of Jath taluka of Sangli district; almost all of Sangola taluka (around 81 villages), around 20 villages of Mangalvedha taluka and 12 villages of Pandharpur taluka of Sholapur district.
During British rule, there was a sub-division of the then Satara district called Maan, which covered much of this area. There are also medieval references to a region called Maandesh. Today however, Maandesh is not a recognised administrative unit and most people outside the region would not be able to identify its boundaries.
Maandesh is a semiarid, dusty plainThe name is most probably derived from `Maan’, the name of the 163-km long river that flows through this region, The Maan, a tributary of the Bhima, itself a tributary of the Krishna, is not much of a river; it is dry for most of the year. But along its banks, and along the banks of streams and rivulets that join in it, the soil is black. The rest of Maandesh is a semiarid, dusty plain with rocky soil and bare hillocks...........
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sangola water scarcity : HC summons revenue, irrigation secys
MumbaiRapping the government for not doing enough to solve the water scarcity problem in Sangola taluka of Solapur district, the Bombay High Court today summoned revenue and irrigation departments' principal secretaries.
Both the officials have been asked to be present on October 11. What irked the court more was the fact that while revenue secretary could not remain present in court today -- as earlier directed -- due to ill-health, the irrigation secretary was abroad.
" Your secretaries have time to go abroad, but not to visit the villages (reeling under water crisis)," a division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud said.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Appasaheb Patil, a local resident, complaining that some 100-odd villages in Sangola were facing a perennial water scarcity, when water from nearby Veer-Bhatghar reservoirs was overflowing into Neera river.
The PIL demanded that an existing canal be upgraded so that excess water could be supplied to Sangola.
On July 26, the High Court asked the secretaries to hold a meeting in this regard, saying that "people cannot remain without water".
However, on last occasion, court noticed that meeting was held by lower officers. The court then summoned both secretaries to the court, but both played truant today. Patil's lawyer Machhindra Patil said last year the government had paid Rs 3.75 crore for providing water to these villages by tanker.
Government counsel Rupali Pawar argued that villages were provided water by tankers this summer, so there was no shortage, but the court was not satisfied. " Your affidavit is hopeless. Let your secretaries remain present in the court next time," the court said.
Both the officials have been asked to be present on October 11. What irked the court more was the fact that while revenue secretary could not remain present in court today -- as earlier directed -- due to ill-health, the irrigation secretary was abroad.
" Your secretaries have time to go abroad, but not to visit the villages (reeling under water crisis)," a division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud said.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Appasaheb Patil, a local resident, complaining that some 100-odd villages in Sangola were facing a perennial water scarcity, when water from nearby Veer-Bhatghar reservoirs was overflowing into Neera river.
The PIL demanded that an existing canal be upgraded so that excess water could be supplied to Sangola.
On July 26, the High Court asked the secretaries to hold a meeting in this regard, saying that "people cannot remain without water".
However, on last occasion, court noticed that meeting was held by lower officers. The court then summoned both secretaries to the court, but both played truant today. Patil's lawyer Machhindra Patil said last year the government had paid Rs 3.75 crore for providing water to these villages by tanker.
Government counsel Rupali Pawar argued that villages were provided water by tankers this summer, so there was no shortage, but the court was not satisfied. " Your affidavit is hopeless. Let your secretaries remain present in the court next time," the court said.
Maharashtra faces drought-like crisis
Saturday, July 12, 2008 (Sangola)
Sixteen districts and some villages in Maharashtra are hit with a drought-like situation, which has raised concerns for the state. It’s the middle of the monsoon and Sangola in Solapur district is still thirsting for it’s first drop of rain and it’s the second time in four years for Sangola. Three days ago, the state government declared a drought-like situation in 15 districts, all of them with less than 50 per cent rainfall. Some districts, like Solapur, are worse off, with only 10 per cent rainfall received since the monsoon broke.
For farmers like Sapote, it’s a double whammy. He had borrowed Rs 1 lakh for this pomegranate orchard and now the moneylenders are already knocking on his door.
”This year because there is no water our pomegranate orchard has been completely destroyed,” Sapote said.
The state’s Rural Development Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil had little to say except express concern, this despite the fact that the drought in 2004 saw more than 10,000 heads of cattle perish.
The drought-like situation comes at a time when parts of the state are going through their worst agrarian crisis.
Sixteen districts and some villages in Maharashtra are hit with a drought-like situation, which has raised concerns for the state. It’s the middle of the monsoon and Sangola in Solapur district is still thirsting for it’s first drop of rain and it’s the second time in four years for Sangola. Three days ago, the state government declared a drought-like situation in 15 districts, all of them with less than 50 per cent rainfall. Some districts, like Solapur, are worse off, with only 10 per cent rainfall received since the monsoon broke.
For farmers like Sapote, it’s a double whammy. He had borrowed Rs 1 lakh for this pomegranate orchard and now the moneylenders are already knocking on his door.
”This year because there is no water our pomegranate orchard has been completely destroyed,” Sapote said.
The state’s Rural Development Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil had little to say except express concern, this despite the fact that the drought in 2004 saw more than 10,000 heads of cattle perish.
The drought-like situation comes at a time when parts of the state are going through their worst agrarian crisis.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Why is Sangola taluka in Maharashtra turning into a ghost town?
An Old article from Indian Express
Sangola taluka in Solapur's backyard is fast emptying. In the last fortnight, an estimated 400 families, given to sheep rearing, have locked their homes and trotted out in search of water and food. Weary men, women, children and cattle are all headed south to Sangli and Kolhapur where they hope to survive the early advance of summer.
The search for water in Sangola is old but, as zilla parishad member Gajendra Kodekar says, it was never this bad. "This is the first time that so many families are moving in search of water and fodder. And all because these villages did not receive adequate rainfall. Sangola was not as lucky as villages elsewhere. There are drought-like conditions in as many as 102 villages".
Sangola's problem is peculiar. Villages like Balloddi, Nazra, Wazra, Andhal, Chimke, Vatambar, Vasood, Akola and Kadlas are located in the Maan river basin but the water there is no good. It is not fit for consumption. Always dependent on tanker-water, they now believe it is time to move before summer really sets in.
It was the same with the 400 'dhangar' families - sheep-rearing is what they do for a living - who emptied out of Kola, Kidimishri, Junooni, Tippehari. They left reluctantly, only after they realised there was no 'khurte gawat' (grass) left for the cattle. Walking 60 km south to Sangli is a better option than simply watching the cattle die.
Villagers say it is this shortage of fodder, especially in the talukas of Malshiras and Sangola, that is compelling most people to give migration a serious thought. ``The district administration should not only ensure regular tanker-water supply but also organise cattle camps. Otherwise, our livestock will simply perish. We will have nothing left," they all say.
Others like Yellapa Metkar and Hanmantu Koli have already hit the road to greener pastures. "We have no option except stay put in Sangli and Kolhapur till the monsoons arrive. My land is very dear to me but if my sheep die, what will I do? How do I feed my children?" frets Hanmantu.
Earlier, when drought conditions prevailed (as in 1972), villagers used to migrate to the cities in search of employment. But now the employment guarantee scheme (EGS) of the government too has changed. Rural folk can be employed only in their talukas. So they really have very few options.
A worried Solapur district administration is now grappling with the critical livestock position in the villages. Four fodder stock centres are being opened and help of NGOs and sugar factories is being sought to organise open cattle camps. Akkalkot, south Solapur, Pandharpur, Mangalwedha and Mohol are still being supplied drinking water in tankers. Officials say the worst months are still to come and contingency plans are being drawn accordingly.
Sangola Assembly Counstituency B. L.O
Sr No Polling Station Name Dessignation Polling Statio No
238 Kola P. R. Kulkarni Talathi 238
239 Kola 239
240 Kola 240
241 Kola 241
242 Kola 242
243 Kola 243
244 Kola Aladarwadi S. R. Mohite Gram Sevak 244
245 Kola Madanevasti 245
238 Kola P. R. Kulkarni Talathi 238
239 Kola 239
240 Kola 240
241 Kola 241
242 Kola 242
243 Kola 243
244 Kola Aladarwadi S. R. Mohite Gram Sevak 244
245 Kola Madanevasti 245
Hon.Members of Zilla Parishad
Kola
Shri.Krishna Bapu Kolekar
S.K.P
AKombadwadi P/Kola.Tal.Sangola Dist.Solapur
9423335790
Shri.Krishna Bapu Kolekar
S.K.P
AKombadwadi P/Kola.Tal.Sangola Dist.Solapur
9423335790
Export - Institute in Sangola - News Article
Pomegranate research institute
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JANUARY 6: A pomegranate research institute would be set up at Sangola taluka in Solapur district of Maharashtra, according to Union agriculture minister Nitish Kumar. Addressing the annual conference of all Maharashtra Pomegranate Produce Sangh at Sangola on Wednesday, he hailed the efforts of farmers in promoting drip-irrigation in the area for cultivation of pomegranate and covering the desolate area with greenery.
He said a new agricultural policy of the Government would be unveiled soon, under which 5,000 tonne of cold-storage capacity institutions would be given 25 per cent amount as grant and 50 per cent amount as loan. However, the institutions would have to raise 25 per cent of the amount on their own. NCP president Sharad Pawar, who presided over the conference, said he had held discussions with the farmers in the area to start a new fruit-processing industry for fruits like pomegranate, pumpkin, mango, pineapple and guava at a central place between Tasgaon, Sangola, Malshiras, Indapur and Baramati talukas.
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JANUARY 6: A pomegranate research institute would be set up at Sangola taluka in Solapur district of Maharashtra, according to Union agriculture minister Nitish Kumar. Addressing the annual conference of all Maharashtra Pomegranate Produce Sangh at Sangola on Wednesday, he hailed the efforts of farmers in promoting drip-irrigation in the area for cultivation of pomegranate and covering the desolate area with greenery.
He said a new agricultural policy of the Government would be unveiled soon, under which 5,000 tonne of cold-storage capacity institutions would be given 25 per cent amount as grant and 50 per cent amount as loan. However, the institutions would have to raise 25 per cent of the amount on their own. NCP president Sharad Pawar, who presided over the conference, said he had held discussions with the farmers in the area to start a new fruit-processing industry for fruits like pomegranate, pumpkin, mango, pineapple and guava at a central place between Tasgaon, Sangola, Malshiras, Indapur and Baramati talukas.
Rivers passing through Sholapur
Within Satara limits there are two river systems, the Bhima system in a small part of the north and north-east and the Krishna system throughout the rest of the district. Of the Bhima system there are two branches the Nira and the Man. A narrow belt beyond the Mahadev hills drains north into the Nira which flows east into the Bhima and the north-east corner of the district beyond the Mahimangad-Panhala spur drains south-east along the Man which afterwards flows east and north-east to join the Bhima. The total area of the Bhima system, including part of Wai and the whole of Phaltan and Man, is probably about 1100 miles. Excluding about 400 miles of the Phaltan state, this leaves for the Krishna system 4000 miles or about five-sixths of the district. The drainage system of the Krishna includes, besides the drainage of the central stream the drainage of six feeders from the right side the Kudali, Yenna, Urmodi, Tarli, Koyna, and Varna, and of two from the left side the Vasna and the Yerla.
Krishna.
The Krishna is one of the three great rivers of Southern India. Like the Godavari and Kaveri it flows across almost the entire breadth of the peninsula from west to east and falls into the Bay of Bengal. In sanctity the Krishna is surpassed both by the Godavari and by the Kaveri. In length it is less than the Godavari, but its drainage area, including the drainage of its two great tributaries the Bhima and Tungbhadra, is larger than that of either the Godavari or of the Kaveri. Its length is about 800 miles and its drainage area is about 94,500 square miles. Of its 800 miles about 150 lie within Satara limits. The Krishna rises on the eastern brow of the Mahableshvar plateau four miles west of the village of Jor in the extreme west of Wai. The source of the river is about 4500 feet above the sea in 18° 1' north latitude and 73° 41' east longitude. On the pleateau of the Mahabaleshvar hill near the source of the river stands an ancient temple of Mahadev. Inside of the temple is a small reservoir into which a stream pours out of a stone cow-mouth. This is the traditional source of the river which Hindus lovingly call Krishnabai the Lady Krishna. Numbers of pilgrims crowd to the spot which is embowered in trees and flowering shrubs. From its source the Krishna runs east for about fifteen miles till it reaches the town of Wai. From Wai the course of the river is south. About ten miles from Wai it receives the Kudali from the right about two miles south of Panchvad in South Wai. After meeting the Kudali, the river continues to run south through the Satara sub-division by Nimb and Varuth, and after fifteen miles receives the Yenna on the right near Mahuli about three miles east of Satara. As the meeting of the Krishna and Yenna, Mahuli is sacred. A fair is held five times in the year, once in Kartik October-November, in Chaitra March-April, and in Ashad June -July, and twice in Shravan July - August. After meeting the Yenna the Krishna curves to the south-east and separates Satara from Koregaon for about ten miles till it 'reaches the border of Karad. In Koregaon, after a course of forty miles, about a mile east of Mangalpur, the Krishna receives the Vasna from the left, and after a course of about fifty-five miles in the extreme south of the Satara sub-division, about two miles south-west of Vanegaon, it receives the Urmodi from the right. In Karad the river runs nearly south. It receives from the right two tributaries, the Tarli near Umbraj after a course of about sixty-five miles and the Koyna near Karad after a course of about seventy-five miles. From Karad the Krishna runs south-east by Valva and Bhilavdi in Tasgaon. About six miles south of Bhilavdi it receives the Yerla on the left after a course of 120 miles, and about three miles south of Sangli in the extreme south of the district, it receives the Varna on the right after a course of 135 miles. After its meeting with the Varna the Krishna continues to run south-east towards Belgaum. Within Satara limits the Krishna is unfit for navigation. The channel is too rocky and the stream too rapid to allow even of small native craft. The banks are twenty to thirty feet high, and generally sloping earthy and broken. The river bed, though in parts rocky, as a rule is sandy. In Wai and Satara in the northwest, except that melons are grown in its bed, the water of the Krishna is little used for irrigation, except here and there by bhudkis or pits sunk on deep river banks. In Karad, Valva, and Tasgaon in the south, crops of sugarcane, groundnut, chillies, and wheat are raised by watering the soil from recently made canals. Daring the fair season the Krishna is everywhere easily forded, but during the rains there is a considerable body of water, and ferries are worked at Mahuli three miles east of Satara, at Dhamner in the south of Korgaon, at Umbraj, Karad, and Karve in Karad, at Bahe and Boregaon in Valva, and at Bhilavdi in Tasgaon. Within Satara limits the Krishna is bridged at Bhuinj on the Poona-Belgaum road, at Wai on the Poona-FitzGerald road, and at Vaduth on the old Poona road.
Kudali.
The Kudali, a small feeder of the Krishna in the north, rises near Kedamb in Javli, and after a south-easterly course of about sixteen miles through Javli and Wai, flanked by the Vairatgad range on the left or north and the Hatgegad-Arle range on the right or south, joins the Krishna from the right about two miles south of Panchvad in Wai.
Yenna.
The Vena or Yenna, one of the Krishna's chief feeders, rises on the Mahabaleshvar plateau and falls into the Yenna valley below the Lingmalla bungalow and plantation, on the east point of the Mahabaleshvar hills about three miles east of Malcolmpeth. It passes along the valley between the Hatgegad-Arle range on the left or north and the Satara range on the right or south, and, after a south-easterly course of about forty miles through Javli and Satara, it flows into the Krishna at Mahuli about three miles east of Satara. In the hot season the stream stops and the water stands in pools. It is crossed by no ferries, Besides a foot bridge at Medha in Javli, it has four road bridges, one on the Poona-Belgaum road at Varya three miles north of Satara, two on the Satara-Malcolmpeth road at Kanhera eight miles and at Kelghar twenty miles north-west of Satara, and one on the old Poona road at Vadha-Kheda three miles north-east of Satara.
Urmodi.
The Urmodi, a small feeder of the Krishna, rises near Kas in Javli., It passes south-east along a valley flanked by the Satara range on the left or north and the Kalvali-Sonapur range on the right or south. After a south-easterly course of about twenty miles, mostly through Satara, it falls into the Krishna about two miles south-west of Vanegaon in the extreme south of the Satara sub-division. The banks of the Urmodi are high and steep. The flow of water ceases in the hot season. There is no ferry, and only one bridge on the Poona-Kolhapur mail-road at Latna nine miles south of Satara.
Tarli.
The Tarli, a small feeder of the Krishna, rises in the north-west of Patan about ten miles above the village of Tarli. It flows south-east along a valley flanked by the Kalvali-Sonapur range on the left or north-east and the Jalu-Vasantgad range on the right or south-west. After a south-easterly course of about twenty-two miles through Patan and Karad, it joins the Krishna from the right at Umbraj in Karad.
Koyna.
The Koyna, the largest of the Satara feeders of the Krishna, rises on the west side of the Mahabaleshvar plateau near Elphinstone Point in 17° 58' north latitude and 73° 43' east longitude Of its course of eighty miles within Satara limits, during the first forty it runs nearly south, and during the next forty it runs nearly east. During its forty miles to the south the Koyna flows along a beautiful valley with the main line of the Sahyadris on the right and on the left the Bamnoli-Gheradategad branch of the Sahyadris which runs parallel to the main line at an equal height. In Javli the river passes by Bamnoli and Tambi and receives the Solshi from the left about three miles north of Bamnoli and the Kandati from the right about two miles south of Bamnoli. At Helvak in Patan, after a course of forty miles, the river suddenly turns east, and, after a further course of forty miles, by the town of Patan where it receives the Kera from the north, it falls into the Krishna at Karad. In the first forty miles the Koyna is seldom more than 100 feet broad; but in the last forty miles the bed is 300 to 500 feet across. Especially in the first forty miles the banks are broken and muddy and the bed is of gravel. In the hot months the stream often ceases, but the water stands in deep pools through the dryest years. During the rains it fills from bank to bank, and small ferry boats work across it at Sangvad and Yerad in Patan.
Varna.
The Varna in the south, separating Satara and Kolhapur, rises close to the western crest of the Sahyadris in the extreme northwest of Valva. It runs south-east for about eighty miles by Charan, Bilasi, and Dhudhgaon in Valva, and falls into the Krishna about three miles south of Sangli. Its banks are steep and broken, and, in the southern twenty miles, it overflows its banks every rains.
Vasna.
The Vasna, a small feeder of the Krishna, rises in the Mahadev range near Solshi in the north of Koregaon. It flows south along a valley flanked by the Chandan-Vandan range on the right or west and by the Vardhangad-Machindragad range on the left or east. It runs south for about twenty miles, and, from the left, falls into the Krishna about a mile east of Mangalpur in Koregaon.
Yerla.
The Yerla, the largest of the left-hand or northern feeders of the Krishna, rises in Solaknath hill in the extreme north of Khatav. It flows along a valley flanked by the Yardhangad-Machindragad range on the right or west, and by the Mahimangad-Panhala range on the left or east. It runs south for about seventy-five miles through Khatav, Khanapur, Tasgaon, and the lands of Sangli. In Khatav it passes by Lalgun, Khatav, Vaduj, and Nimsod, in Khanapur by Danleshvar and Bhalvani, in Tasgaon by Turchi and Nagaon, and in Sangli by Nandre. At Dhalnleshvar in Khanpur it receives the Nandani from the right a stream about 300 feet wide. After a south-westerly course of about seventy-five miles the Yerla falls into the Krishna within Sangli limits about six miles south of Bhilavdi. At its meeting with the Krishna, the Yerla is about 600 feet broad. Its bed is sandy, and its banks are sloping earthy and muddy. The stream holds water throughout the year and crops of sugarcane, groundnut, wheat, potatoes, and onions are raised by bhudkis or wells sunk near the banks.
Nira.
Of the Bhima system of rivers the two chief Satara representatives are the Nira in the north and the Man in the north-east The Nira, which separates Satara from Poona in the north, rises on the Sahyadri range within the lands of the Pant Sachiv of Bhor. Of a total length of 130 miles, about sixty miles lie on the borders of Poona to the north and of Satara and Phaltan to the south. From its source in Bhor the river runs east to the north of the subdivision of Wai and the state of Phaltan. After leaving Phaltan, it runs north of Malsiras in Sholapur and falls into the Bhima about five miles east of Tambve in the extreme north-east of Malsiras. Within the limits of the Bhor state the Nira is bridged on the Poona-Kolhapur mail road at Sirval in the north of Wai.
Manganga.
The Manganga, a tributary of the Bhima, rises in the Tita hill in the north-east of Man. Of a total length of about 100 miles, about forty lie in Man within Satara limits. In Man the river runs south-east by Malvadi, Andhli, Dahivadi, and Mhasvad. Beyond Satara limits the Manganga continues to run south-east through Atpadi, and from Atpadi it turns north-east through Sangola and Pandharpur in Sholapur, and falls into the Bhima at Sarkoli about ten miles south-east of Pandharpur. During the rains within the Man sub-division the water of the Manganga runs two to six feet deep. In the fair season it is about two feet deep in some places and almost dry in others. The bed is sandy and the banks earthy and sloping. In some parts near the river banks crops of sugarcane, groundnut, wheat, sweet potatoes, and onions are raised by pats or fair-weather channels.
Krishna.
The Krishna is one of the three great rivers of Southern India. Like the Godavari and Kaveri it flows across almost the entire breadth of the peninsula from west to east and falls into the Bay of Bengal. In sanctity the Krishna is surpassed both by the Godavari and by the Kaveri. In length it is less than the Godavari, but its drainage area, including the drainage of its two great tributaries the Bhima and Tungbhadra, is larger than that of either the Godavari or of the Kaveri. Its length is about 800 miles and its drainage area is about 94,500 square miles. Of its 800 miles about 150 lie within Satara limits. The Krishna rises on the eastern brow of the Mahableshvar plateau four miles west of the village of Jor in the extreme west of Wai. The source of the river is about 4500 feet above the sea in 18° 1' north latitude and 73° 41' east longitude. On the pleateau of the Mahabaleshvar hill near the source of the river stands an ancient temple of Mahadev. Inside of the temple is a small reservoir into which a stream pours out of a stone cow-mouth. This is the traditional source of the river which Hindus lovingly call Krishnabai the Lady Krishna. Numbers of pilgrims crowd to the spot which is embowered in trees and flowering shrubs. From its source the Krishna runs east for about fifteen miles till it reaches the town of Wai. From Wai the course of the river is south. About ten miles from Wai it receives the Kudali from the right about two miles south of Panchvad in South Wai. After meeting the Kudali, the river continues to run south through the Satara sub-division by Nimb and Varuth, and after fifteen miles receives the Yenna on the right near Mahuli about three miles east of Satara. As the meeting of the Krishna and Yenna, Mahuli is sacred. A fair is held five times in the year, once in Kartik October-November, in Chaitra March-April, and in Ashad June -July, and twice in Shravan July - August. After meeting the Yenna the Krishna curves to the south-east and separates Satara from Koregaon for about ten miles till it 'reaches the border of Karad. In Koregaon, after a course of forty miles, about a mile east of Mangalpur, the Krishna receives the Vasna from the left, and after a course of about fifty-five miles in the extreme south of the Satara sub-division, about two miles south-west of Vanegaon, it receives the Urmodi from the right. In Karad the river runs nearly south. It receives from the right two tributaries, the Tarli near Umbraj after a course of about sixty-five miles and the Koyna near Karad after a course of about seventy-five miles. From Karad the Krishna runs south-east by Valva and Bhilavdi in Tasgaon. About six miles south of Bhilavdi it receives the Yerla on the left after a course of 120 miles, and about three miles south of Sangli in the extreme south of the district, it receives the Varna on the right after a course of 135 miles. After its meeting with the Varna the Krishna continues to run south-east towards Belgaum. Within Satara limits the Krishna is unfit for navigation. The channel is too rocky and the stream too rapid to allow even of small native craft. The banks are twenty to thirty feet high, and generally sloping earthy and broken. The river bed, though in parts rocky, as a rule is sandy. In Wai and Satara in the northwest, except that melons are grown in its bed, the water of the Krishna is little used for irrigation, except here and there by bhudkis or pits sunk on deep river banks. In Karad, Valva, and Tasgaon in the south, crops of sugarcane, groundnut, chillies, and wheat are raised by watering the soil from recently made canals. Daring the fair season the Krishna is everywhere easily forded, but during the rains there is a considerable body of water, and ferries are worked at Mahuli three miles east of Satara, at Dhamner in the south of Korgaon, at Umbraj, Karad, and Karve in Karad, at Bahe and Boregaon in Valva, and at Bhilavdi in Tasgaon. Within Satara limits the Krishna is bridged at Bhuinj on the Poona-Belgaum road, at Wai on the Poona-FitzGerald road, and at Vaduth on the old Poona road.
Kudali.
The Kudali, a small feeder of the Krishna in the north, rises near Kedamb in Javli, and after a south-easterly course of about sixteen miles through Javli and Wai, flanked by the Vairatgad range on the left or north and the Hatgegad-Arle range on the right or south, joins the Krishna from the right about two miles south of Panchvad in Wai.
Yenna.
The Vena or Yenna, one of the Krishna's chief feeders, rises on the Mahabaleshvar plateau and falls into the Yenna valley below the Lingmalla bungalow and plantation, on the east point of the Mahabaleshvar hills about three miles east of Malcolmpeth. It passes along the valley between the Hatgegad-Arle range on the left or north and the Satara range on the right or south, and, after a south-easterly course of about forty miles through Javli and Satara, it flows into the Krishna at Mahuli about three miles east of Satara. In the hot season the stream stops and the water stands in pools. It is crossed by no ferries, Besides a foot bridge at Medha in Javli, it has four road bridges, one on the Poona-Belgaum road at Varya three miles north of Satara, two on the Satara-Malcolmpeth road at Kanhera eight miles and at Kelghar twenty miles north-west of Satara, and one on the old Poona road at Vadha-Kheda three miles north-east of Satara.
Urmodi.
The Urmodi, a small feeder of the Krishna, rises near Kas in Javli., It passes south-east along a valley flanked by the Satara range on the left or north and the Kalvali-Sonapur range on the right or south. After a south-easterly course of about twenty miles, mostly through Satara, it falls into the Krishna about two miles south-west of Vanegaon in the extreme south of the Satara sub-division. The banks of the Urmodi are high and steep. The flow of water ceases in the hot season. There is no ferry, and only one bridge on the Poona-Kolhapur mail-road at Latna nine miles south of Satara.
Tarli.
The Tarli, a small feeder of the Krishna, rises in the north-west of Patan about ten miles above the village of Tarli. It flows south-east along a valley flanked by the Kalvali-Sonapur range on the left or north-east and the Jalu-Vasantgad range on the right or south-west. After a south-easterly course of about twenty-two miles through Patan and Karad, it joins the Krishna from the right at Umbraj in Karad.
Koyna.
The Koyna, the largest of the Satara feeders of the Krishna, rises on the west side of the Mahabaleshvar plateau near Elphinstone Point in 17° 58' north latitude and 73° 43' east longitude Of its course of eighty miles within Satara limits, during the first forty it runs nearly south, and during the next forty it runs nearly east. During its forty miles to the south the Koyna flows along a beautiful valley with the main line of the Sahyadris on the right and on the left the Bamnoli-Gheradategad branch of the Sahyadris which runs parallel to the main line at an equal height. In Javli the river passes by Bamnoli and Tambi and receives the Solshi from the left about three miles north of Bamnoli and the Kandati from the right about two miles south of Bamnoli. At Helvak in Patan, after a course of forty miles, the river suddenly turns east, and, after a further course of forty miles, by the town of Patan where it receives the Kera from the north, it falls into the Krishna at Karad. In the first forty miles the Koyna is seldom more than 100 feet broad; but in the last forty miles the bed is 300 to 500 feet across. Especially in the first forty miles the banks are broken and muddy and the bed is of gravel. In the hot months the stream often ceases, but the water stands in deep pools through the dryest years. During the rains it fills from bank to bank, and small ferry boats work across it at Sangvad and Yerad in Patan.
Varna.
The Varna in the south, separating Satara and Kolhapur, rises close to the western crest of the Sahyadris in the extreme northwest of Valva. It runs south-east for about eighty miles by Charan, Bilasi, and Dhudhgaon in Valva, and falls into the Krishna about three miles south of Sangli. Its banks are steep and broken, and, in the southern twenty miles, it overflows its banks every rains.
Vasna.
The Vasna, a small feeder of the Krishna, rises in the Mahadev range near Solshi in the north of Koregaon. It flows south along a valley flanked by the Chandan-Vandan range on the right or west and by the Vardhangad-Machindragad range on the left or east. It runs south for about twenty miles, and, from the left, falls into the Krishna about a mile east of Mangalpur in Koregaon.
Yerla.
The Yerla, the largest of the left-hand or northern feeders of the Krishna, rises in Solaknath hill in the extreme north of Khatav. It flows along a valley flanked by the Yardhangad-Machindragad range on the right or west, and by the Mahimangad-Panhala range on the left or east. It runs south for about seventy-five miles through Khatav, Khanapur, Tasgaon, and the lands of Sangli. In Khatav it passes by Lalgun, Khatav, Vaduj, and Nimsod, in Khanapur by Danleshvar and Bhalvani, in Tasgaon by Turchi and Nagaon, and in Sangli by Nandre. At Dhalnleshvar in Khanpur it receives the Nandani from the right a stream about 300 feet wide. After a south-westerly course of about seventy-five miles the Yerla falls into the Krishna within Sangli limits about six miles south of Bhilavdi. At its meeting with the Krishna, the Yerla is about 600 feet broad. Its bed is sandy, and its banks are sloping earthy and muddy. The stream holds water throughout the year and crops of sugarcane, groundnut, wheat, potatoes, and onions are raised by bhudkis or wells sunk near the banks.
Nira.
Of the Bhima system of rivers the two chief Satara representatives are the Nira in the north and the Man in the north-east The Nira, which separates Satara from Poona in the north, rises on the Sahyadri range within the lands of the Pant Sachiv of Bhor. Of a total length of 130 miles, about sixty miles lie on the borders of Poona to the north and of Satara and Phaltan to the south. From its source in Bhor the river runs east to the north of the subdivision of Wai and the state of Phaltan. After leaving Phaltan, it runs north of Malsiras in Sholapur and falls into the Bhima about five miles east of Tambve in the extreme north-east of Malsiras. Within the limits of the Bhor state the Nira is bridged on the Poona-Kolhapur mail road at Sirval in the north of Wai.
Manganga.
The Manganga, a tributary of the Bhima, rises in the Tita hill in the north-east of Man. Of a total length of about 100 miles, about forty lie in Man within Satara limits. In Man the river runs south-east by Malvadi, Andhli, Dahivadi, and Mhasvad. Beyond Satara limits the Manganga continues to run south-east through Atpadi, and from Atpadi it turns north-east through Sangola and Pandharpur in Sholapur, and falls into the Bhima at Sarkoli about ten miles south-east of Pandharpur. During the rains within the Man sub-division the water of the Manganga runs two to six feet deep. In the fair season it is about two feet deep in some places and almost dry in others. The bed is sandy and the banks earthy and sloping. In some parts near the river banks crops of sugarcane, groundnut, wheat, sweet potatoes, and onions are raised by pats or fair-weather channels.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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