Panel to study Totladoh water stock

NAGPUR: Construction of Chaurai dam on the Pench river in Madhya Pradesh (MP) will reduce water availability in Totladoh dam, which supplies drinking water to the city and provides irrigation to Nagpur and Bhandara districts. Chaurai dam will start storing water from this year.
Ramtek MLA DM Reddy had demanded that government prevents MP from going ahead with the dam. Since MP is not exceeding its share in use of water, the demand was rejected.The government has set up a committee to find solutions to the problem. It has been given a time of six months to submit a report.
The 13-member committee is headed by executive director of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) and comprises of Nana Patole, Krupal Tumane, DM Reddy, Sunil Kedar, Ramchandra Awsare, Charan Waghmare, besides irrigation and agriculture officials.
A VIDC official said as per agreement signed between MP and Maharashtra in 1964, Pench water is to be shared between the two states in the ratio of 35 to 60 respectively. So far, MP was not using its share of water. Now the Chaurai dam will store 23.96 million cubic metre (mmc), which is within MP’s share of 27.77 mmc.