President lays foundation stone of lift irrigation scheme

JALGAON - President Pratibha Patil Friday laid the foundation stone of a project that will help irrigate 42,420 hectares of land in 101 villages of Jalgaon and Buldana districts.

“I am glad to be a part of the commencement work of this scheme. This is a dry region and I always thought about how this area can be given a green cover,” Patil said of the Bodwad lift irrigation scheme.

Patil also stressed upon the idea of ‘More crop per drop’. “To achieve this target, importance should be given to harvesting rain water and reviving and maintaining water bodies,” she said.

Patil mentioned that the agriculture is the most important part of rural areas of any state of the country. “Our country has created records in the agricultural sector in the last 60 years. But arrangements will have to be made to make irrigation water available in the dry regions of a state to facilitate agriculture,” Patil said.

Also present at the occasion were Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Eknath Khadse, Minister for Water Resources Ajit Pawar and Minister of State Vijay Wadettiwar.