Even as the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra is grim, there is some solace for the state as far as the water stock is concerned as it has reported nearly three times more useful storage as compared to the corresponding period last year.
The state had faced successive years of drought over the past few years. However, most parts of the state had received good rainfall last year.
According to a Maharashtra government report of Saturday, the 3,267 major, medium and minor projects across the state collectively reported live (useful) storage of 16,472.13 million cubic metre, which is 40.28 per cent of their total capacity of holding 40,897.95 million cubic metres of live stock.
On this day last year, the collective stock available across these dams was 14.8 per cent.
However, some major dams, including Manjara (in Beed) in the Marathwada region, which witnesses parched swathes during the summer, have run out of their useful content this year too as they had in the previous season.
The nine major dams in the Aurangabad division of Marathwada have 1,792.31 million cubic metre live storage till now, which is 43.74 per cent of their total useful content holding capacity of 4,097.77 million cubic metre.
Last year, the stock available across these dams in Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Nanded, Osmanabad and Parbhani districts on this day was just 0.44 per cent.
The Jayakwadi dam at Paithan in Aurangabad district, a key project in the region, had dried (in terms of live stock) last year.
However, this year, it has reported a big leap of 1,006.32 million cubic metre useful stock, that is 46.35 per cent of its capacity of holding 2,170.93 million cubic metre useful storage.
Similarly, the dams like Majalgaon (Beed), Yeldari and Siddeshwar (Hingoli) and Lower Terna (Osmanabad) recorded relatively better stock this year over the previous season.
Manjara, Sina Kolegaon (Osmanabad) and Lower Dudhana (Parbhani) dams, however, have run out of their useful stock as they had last year.
The 10 major dams in the Amravati division of Vidarbha, which too witnessed dry stretches when the temperature soared, have at present 1,187.69 million cubic metre live stock, that is 47.84 per cent of their collective useful storage of 2,482.65 million cubic metre.
On the same day last year, the total useful stock available at these dams in the division- which covers districts such as Akola, Amravati, Buldhana and Yavatmal- was 15.83 per cent.
The Khadakpurna and Pentakali dams, which ran into dead storage last year, have reported 29.35 per cent (figure last updated on April 27 this year, according to the report) and 81.83 per cent (updated on February 14) of their respective total useful stock holding capacity now.
In the Nagpur division of the region, the live stock available in the 15 major dams was 1,731.4 million cubic metre, that is, 50.64 per cent of their collective 3,418.87 million cubic metre useful content.
In 2019, the stock available on the corresponding day in the dams in the division that covers districts like Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Gondia, besides Nagpur was 6.85 per cent.
The Gosikhurd (Bhandara) and Nand (Nagpur) dams, which had no live stock left last year, have reported availability of 15.18 per cent and 22.7 per cent of their respective useful storage holding capacity.
The six dams in the Konkan region- comprising Palghar, Sindhudurg and Thane- have 49.07 per cent (826.18 million cubic metre) of their collective 1,683.65 million cubic metre capacity live stock as against 30.66 per cent last year.
Nashik division's 24 dams together have available 1,566.79 million cubic metre (41.91 per cent) of their 3,738.75 million cubic metre collective live water stock holding capacity.
In the previous year, the stock available in the region that covers districts like Ahmednagar, Jalgaon and Nashik, was 11.51 per cent.
The Pune region with 29 dams has 4,086.66 million cubic metre (36.22 per cent) live stock available at present of the total useful storage capacity of 11,281.44 million cubic metre.
Last year, the live water stock available across these dams in Kolhapur, Pune, Sangli, Satara and Solapur was 13.18 per cent.
Dimbhe, Pimpalgaon Joge and Wadaj dams in Pune, which had recorded zero per cent live water stock last season, are all relatively better placed this year, according to the data.
The Bhima (Ujjani) project in Solapur has no live stock left this year like the previous one.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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