The ground breaking ceremony of the park was conducted on Thursday in the presence of veteran social activist and former Union minister Mohan Dharia, Vice-Chancellor Tukaram More and others. Speaking on the occasion, More said the issue of watershed development could hardly be overstressed in Maharashtra given the precarious situation of groundwater in the state. “As per the calculations, the water need of the state would reach 82 per cent of the present usage while water availability would drop by 10 per cent. Development of watersheds across the state is the need of the hour,” he said.
He added that it was the work of agriculture technologists and other scientists to popularise and make the technology people friendly.
The watershed park will be developed by city-based builder Sudhir Darode. He said while chief ministers from neighbouring states came to Vanrai to learn about the watershed technology, the Government of Maharashtra had not made efforts to popularise it.