Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Water conservation work at Dham river and Moti Nala in Wardha helped in irrigating 2,000 hectares of agricultural land and providing drinking water to 6 villages
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari inspects water conservation work in Wardha district
Posted On: 18 OCT 2021 9:55PM by PIB Mumbai
Nagpur/Wardha, 18 October 2021
At a press conference in Wardha, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today informed that due to the flood waters, the river Dham and Moti Nala were causing severe damage to agriculture in the area. But due to widening and deepening of the nala this problem has solved. He added that about 2,000 hectares of land has been put under irrigation due to water conservation and drinking water is made available to 6 villages in the area.
Nitin Gadkari was on a one-day visit to monitor the water conservation work in Wardha district. Water conservation is underway at 26 km stretch of Dham nadi in Yelakeli village of Wardha’s Selu taluka and 9 km stretch of Moti Nala in Mandwa.
The Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation has supported the water conservation work of Dham river and the water conservation work at Moti Nala is funded by the CSR fund of Jawaharlal Nehru Port. Gadkari expressed hope that no farmer would commit suicide if such low cost and environmentally enabled projects were set up in villages. MP of Wardha, Ramdas Tadas and Purti Irrigation Society’s activist Madhav Kotsthane were also present on the occasion.
In Wardha district, deepening of Tamaswada Nala widened the river bed and restored the flow of the river. This pattern became famous as ‘Tamaswada pattern’. Based on similar pattern, to revive the dying Moti Nala through a water conservation project, financial support was provided from the CSR fund of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. Union Minister Shri Gadkari took initiative for this.
Now this project is storing about 280 cubic milliliters of water annually. As a result, water has become available for about 600 acres of agri land and due to the water availability, allied agricultural activities have also flourished.
After the inspection of Moti Nala, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari addressed a public meeting at Mandwa. While interacting with the people present there, he advised the farmers in the area to cultivate sugarcane instead of crops like soybean and cotton. For fruit cultivation, drip irrigation should be adopted based on the principle of ‘One Drop Moor Crop’. He hoped that Tamaswada pattern has led to water conservation in this area and not a single farmer in the area would commit suicide.
Earlier today, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inspected the development of water conservation work of Dham river at Yelakeli in Wardha district.
With the efforts of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and in collaboration with Janakidevi Bajaj Gram Vikas Sanstha in Wardha, sludge removal from Dham river was carried out between 27 to 31 May 2021 and as a result this initiative, a total of 16 thousand 233 cubic meters of silt was removed from the 200 meter stretch of the river and water conservation work was completed for 26 km of river length. This work has resulted in the increase of water storage in canal and in turn has benefitted agricultural irrigation in the vicinity.
* * *
MC/Sanjana/D.Rane
Follow us on social media: 
@PIBMumbai 
/PIBMumbai 
/pibmumbai 
pibmumbai@gmail.com
(Release ID: 1764811) Visitor Counter : 13
