Gadkari’s 'bold' plan to turn mine water into life-saving irrigation could finally end Vidarbha’s drought.

Nitin Gadkari has proposed using water accumulated in MOIL and WCL mines for agricultural purposes to help tackle drought in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region. He suggested installing solar pumps to supply the water to farmers and called for collective efforts to improve irrigation, deepen 6,500 malguzari lakes and strengthen water conservation across the region.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has called for collective efforts to strengthen water conservation in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region and suggested that water accumulating in mines operated by Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL) and Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) be made available to farmers for agricultural use. Speaking at the 17th Agrovision Agriculture Exhibition in Nagpur on Saturday, Gadkari said water from these mines could be supplied to agricultural fields with the help of solar pumps, potentially helping farmers tackle drought conditions in the region.

He urged Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who was present at the event, to invite representatives of MOIL and WCL to a conference scheduled to be held at the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) in December to discuss the proposal.

Gadkari proposes using MOIL, WCL mine water for irrigationExplaining the proposal, Gadkari said water accumulates in mines after excavation and could be put to productive use instead of going unused. "In Vidarbha, we have mines belonging to Manganese Ore India (MOIL) and WCL (Western Coalfields Limited). Once those mines are excavated, water accumulates there," he said.

The Union minister added that a paper had been prepared on the use of mine water, which could be supplied to farmers by installing solar pumps. He said the initiative could provide considerable support in addressing the region's water shortage.

Gadkari asked Bawankule to bring the two companies' representatives together at the proposed December conference so that the matter could be discussed in detail.

Gadkari calls for water conservation to make Vidarbha drought-freeThe minister stressed the need for coordinated water-conservation efforts across every district of Vidarbha, with the aim of expanding irrigation and making the region drought-free.

He said the Agrovision exhibition would present successful examples of water conservation and groundwater recharge from drought-affected parts of Maharashtra.

Farmers attending the event can learn from those who have successfully implemented water-conservation initiatives and replicate similar experiments on their farms and in their villages, he added. Gadkari is the chief patron of Agrovision.

He also pointed to the region's 6,500 malguzari lakes, which were traditionally built as water-harvesting structures. Deepening these lakes could increase their storage capacity, while removing silt from dams could improve their utility, he said.

Gadkari highlights water conservation work and knowledge transferAddressing a press conference, Gadkari also spoke about the work of the Mankar Trust, which has 1,600 teachers working with 40,000 tribal students. The trust has been carrying out its work for the past 25 years.

He said he had been involved in water-conservation initiatives for the last 26 years and stressed the importance of passing knowledge and experience from one generation to the next.

Referring to reports about his possible retirement, Gadkari took a dig at the media, saying he had been encouraging young people to take up such initiatives as he grew older.

"As I have grown older, I say 'now call the young people' (to take part in such initiatives). But, you publish false news that Gadkari is going to retire," he said.

Brushing aside questions about retirement, he added that journalists should continue their work while he would carry on with his own.