Water from the Manjara dam is being illegally pumped for purposes other than what it is reserved for, as found by a team of Additional District Collector of Beed. Water from Manjara Dam has been reserved for drinking purposes for Latur City, Latur MIDC, Ambejogai, Kej, Dharur, Kalamb, and surrounding villages. As a result, the dam is being safeguarded by the Irrigation Department along with the Revenue Department and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL). The employees of these organizations look after the maintenance of the dam.
On Thursday, the team of Additional District Collector of Beed conducted an inspection of the left side of the dam and found that water from the dam was illegally being pumped for other uses. The instruments used for water pumping were seized, which included two electric motors, 14 starters, 14 bundles of wire, and 53 Hasti pumps.
The administration has already declared that water from the Manjara dam has been reserved for drinking purposes and hence should not be used for irrigation and other purposes. Still, private parties pump water from the dam illegally.
The officers and employees of the irrigation, revenue, and MSEDCL departments conduct combined patrolling of the dam to avert the misuse of water. They are entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that water from the dam should be used only for drinking purposes and for no other use.
Latur Municipal Corporation pumps water from the Manjara dam and supplies it to the reserved areas. However, considering possible water scarcity in the coming days, the corporation is pumping a lesser amount of water presently. Presently, One TMC water is being pumped in a month, but now it has reduced to half TMC.
Presently, the water storage in the Manjara dam is 63 TMC. If this water is used judiciously, it can be used till September even if there is less rainfall, the irrigation department sources said.
