Mumbai, Sep 30 — Amid drought conditions in over 265 talukas, Maharashtra Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil on Wednesday directed officials to prioritise permanent solutions to reduce dependency on water tankers.
Key measures include strict management of available water reserves, strengthening existing water sources, stream desilting, accelerating soil and water conservation projects, and immediately operationalising water supply schemes more than 75 per cent complete to tackle potential water shortages.
He also mandated that all districts finalise their scarcity action plans by October 15 and strictly curb unauthorised water extraction.
Minister Patil issued these directives during a review meeting on potential water scarcity across the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nashik and Pune divisions.
“Rather than reacting after a scarcity situation arises, proactive planning based on projected shortages is crucial,” Minister Patil stated.
He urged officials to strictly budget and conserve available water in lakes, dams, wells and other reservoirs, while keeping alternative sources, tankers and infrastructure ready well before the shortage peaks.
Water supply schemes that have achieved 75 per cent or higher completion and have viable water sources must be commissioned immediately, he said.
The Minister asked officials to coordinate directly with the respective District Collectors to resolve any administrative, technical or infrastructural hurdles, such as tap connections, pipeline laying, tank site allocations or approvals.
He instructed officials to give special priority to completing pending water supply projects on a war footing in villages currently dependent on tankers.
The Minister said that the government’s main objective is to establish permanent infrastructure so that the need for tankers is eliminated.
In scarcity-prone areas, priority must be given to stream deepening, desilting, constructing check dams, soak pits, recharge shafts, repairing and deepening wells, well acquisition, drilling new borewells and expanding water storage capacity.
Funds for these water conservation initiatives should be converged from various channels, including the District Planning Committee (DPC), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, District Mineral Foundation (DMF), Jal Jeevan Mission, Gram Panchayats and the Irrigation Department.
Minister Patil instructed officials to prioritise critical and highly sensitive water sources that require immediate reinforcement.
Furthermore, he called for the documentation of successful models, such as the Shirpur pattern in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division and water conservation initiatives in Satara district in the Pune division, so that these best practices can be replicated across other districts in the state.
To address potential shortages in the Nashik division, Minister Patil called for an immediate crackdown on unauthorised water extraction from natural and artificial water sources.
District Collectors have been asked to form teams for field inspections and take strict legal action against illegal connections or unauthorised pumping, emphasising that “every drop of water must be saved”.
Field officers have been directed to visit villages directly, identify localised issues and report them to the District Collector or Zilla Parishad CEO for immediate resolution.
All districts must complete their water scarcity action plans by October 15.
Planning for vulnerable villages should begin immediately, accounting for rainfall data, groundwater levels, current storage, active tankers and the condition of local water bodies, he said.
He further added that district authorities must structure separate operational plans for three distinct periods, October to December, January to March, and April to June, ensuring necessary funds, human resources and equipment are allocated in advance.
Inter-departmental coordination meetings, headed by District Collectors and involving the water supply, agriculture, Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (erstwhile MGNREGA), water conservation and water resources departments, must take place regularly.
Minister Patil stressed that managing available water is a collective responsibility of all administrative bodies, not just Gram Panchayats.
Storage capacity should be enhanced wherever possible by creating farm ponds and desilting existing reservoirs.
The meeting also highlighted specific regional interventions, including special repairs and source strengthening in the Pune division, recharge shafts and desilting projects in Sangli, period-wise targeted planning for vulnerable talukas in Solapur, and the statewide expansion of Satara’s conservation practices.
“Providing timely water supply to citizens during periods of scarcity is our highest priority. All required measures must be implemented before the crisis intensifies, utilising available funds effectively,” Minister Patil concluded.