No Nashik festival this year, courtesy drought

Considering the drought situation, the Nashik festival, organised every year by Bhujbal Foundation, will not be held this year.

Advisor to the foundation and guardian minister of Nashik, Chhagan Bhujbal advised cancelling the festival and utilising the funds for  water conservation in the drought-prone regions of Nashik.

Subsequently, MP and trustee of Bhujbal Foundation Sameer Bhujbal initiated the work of water conservation in Suregaon village of Sinnar tehsil in Nashik on Monday.

Under the water conservation project, 98 schemes in different villages will be undertaken. The works will include desilting of village ponds, cleaning of man made ponds, building bunds, increasing the depth of ponds and wells, etc. While these works have been initiated based on a survey, other related works demanded by the situation will also be considered.

“Last year we had provided water tankers to villages. This year, we felt the need to undertake water conservation projects and work towards increasing the underground water table as a sustainable solution. This is a humanitarian work and I hope people participate in it,” said Sameer Bhujbal

He added that Nashik witnesses a typical monsoon, where some regions get very high rainfall, while others don’t. “In regions receiving high rainfall, the water is wasted while other regions face scarcity. If we utilise the excess water in some regions to increase the water table, it will help the district as a whole”, Bhujbal said.

The foundation conducted a scientific survey by toposheet method and assessed the groundwater sources, water flow and the areas of work. Help has also been taken from the water conservation projects undertaken in Shirpur taluka of Dhule district. Sameer Bhujbal visited Shirpur and took information of the Shirpur pattern, which will be utilised in Nashik as well.

Under the present project, villages in Sinnar, Yeola, Nandgaon, Trimbakeshwar, and
Igatpuri will benefit.

We felt the need to work towards increasing the underground water table
— Sameer Bhujbal