Pune seeks Rs 700 cr more from Centre

After the Sikka Committee took stock of the intense drought condition in the district, Pune divisional commissionerate has sought as many as Rs 700 crore from the Centre to tackle the situation in the Pune division.

"We have already sent our proposal to the Centre. We have utilised Rs 400 crore to address the situation in the division and we need Rs 700 crore more. With the ground water level having gone down by 2-4 meters and the number of tankers at 1,100, we need the amount to tackle the situation for the next eight months," said Divisional Commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh on Monday.

He said they would need the amount to complete the irrigation projects taken up in the district and the division. As per statistics provided by the divisional commissionerate, the division has around 27 irrigation projects. Some 75 per cent work is over for 14 projects and for the rest 13, 50 per cent work is done.

He said after the visit of the Sikka Committee, the commissionerate had pointed out separate measures to address the drought situation, especially in areas facing water scarcity. He said even as the sugar cultivation over the last 10 years in the division has gone up with the cultivation spread on 2.78 lakh hectares, the production has increased only by 4 tonnes.

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