The government has cleared the Gosikhurd irrigation project, the dream project that will help farmers in the suicide-hit Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. The project is estimated to cost Rs 7,777.85 crore.

The approval for an investment of this magnitude is significant because of the importance UPA government is attaching to the politically significant state, ahead of the general elections. The move is in adherence to the Centre?s commitment to help farmers in the region.

After having lost out several major states like Punjab, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh in assembly polls, the Congress-led UPA cannot afford to lose Maharashtra as well.

The project envisages construction of an earthen dam across the Wainganga, a tributary of the Godavari near Gosikhurd village in Bhandara district of the state that falls under the Vidarbha region, which has witnessed over 1,500 farmers suicide till last year. The culturable command area of the project will be two lakh hectares.

The project which began way back in 1982 was estimated to cost Rs 372 crore then, however the work was stuck due to fund constraints, till then Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi re-inaugurated it in 1988 and the project gathered momentum.

By 1988 the project cost had escalated to Rs 2,091 crore.

The annual irrigation of 2.508 lakh hectares is proposed to be provided through left and right bank canals, four offshore lift schemes and two lift schemes on the left bank canal.

The cost for the project has been estimated on the basis of 2007-08 price level. The project would be completed by 2012-13 and the Plan accounts would be closed by March 31, 2013.

Clearing the project the Planning Commission has said that the state finance department should see to it that expenditure on the project is restricted to the approved cost and no additional expenditure beyond the approved cost would be permitted unless the revised estimate is cleared following prescribed norms.

The state has been asked to encourage beneficiary farmers to take over the maintenance and operation of the irrigation system once the project is complete.

The Commission has also asked the state to undertake monitoring of groundwater level in the post project condition to take ameliorative measures to combat water logging.