Chandrapur plans three-phase drive as 1,238 villages face water shortage risk
With rainfall 30.43 per cent below average and drought-like conditions in 12 talukas, the district administration and Zilla Parishad have drawn up a plan running October 2026 to June 2027.
Images are not validated/verified
Chandrapur district has received 30.43 per cent less rain than average this year, and 12 talukas are in drought-like conditions. In view of this, the district administration and the Zilla Parishad are jointly preparing a plan to tackle water scarcity. The plan will be implemented in three phases from October 2026 to June 2027. Work on it is under way under the guidance of Collector Vasumana Pant and CEO Pulkit Singh.
The district has 56 watershed areas and 1,751 villages across 15 talukas. Water shortage is feared in 1,238 villages in 42 of these watershed areas. In such villages, arrangements for water supply are being made by taking over high-yielding tubewells and borewells. Water conservation works will also be taken up in villages that face shortage every year. If required, ten types of measures to ease shortage will be carried out in line with government guidelines.
Under the 2025-26 water scarcity programme, work on 188 borewells in 151 villages has been completed. Work on 60 tubewells in 48 villages has also been completed. Under special repairs of piped water supply schemes, work in 56 villages has been finished and supply restored. The remaining 114 works are in progress and are planned to be completed and supply restored by the end of October.
In addition, 19 handpumps in 8 villages have been repaired. Work to deepen and desilt 79 wells in 74 villages has been completed. In 17 villages, 24 private borewells have been taken over.
Of the Jal Jeevan Mission schemes, 59 whose source work has been completed are planned to be given electricity connections and made operational by February 2027. Between April 2025 and September 2026, 82 Jal Jeevan Mission water supply schemes have been commissioned. Funds have been sought from the District Planning Committee to keep 33 regional water supply schemes in the district running.
Schemes that depend on surface water sources are being reviewed regularly for water availability. Sumit Belpatre, executive engineer of the rural water supply department, said a total of 108 schemes linked to the Penganga, Gadhavi, Uma, Andhari, Wardha and Wainganga rivers are being reviewed every 15 days.
