Latur would have had water, had Marathwada got its share: Govt

Mumbai: The parched Latur and other areas of Marathwada would not have suffered an acute water shortage this summer had the western Maharashtra region was given its rightful share of 23 TMC water, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse said in the Legislative Assembly here on Tuesday.

The water scarcity in Latur is so severe that the government is now supplying water through the railway.

Khadse said the government was considering a Rs 450 crore scheme to provide water to Latur from Ujni reservoir in Solapur district as a long-term solution. He was replying to a debate on water scarcity in Marathwada.

No water was available in Latur, Beed and Osmanabad districts, the Minister said, adding that had the 23 TMC water from the Krishna river basin been given to Marathwada, such a situation would not have arisen.

"There was opposition to giving water, the rightful share, to Marathwada," Khadse said, in a veiled attack on the previous Congress-NCP regime.

Western Maharashtra has been traditionally the bastion of NCP, whose leaders held the irrigation portfolio during the previous regime.

"Today, we have supplied water to Latur from 10 tankers (wagons) on an experimental basis. From tomorrow, we will supply 50 tankers," he said.