Gondia drought: 128 water conservation works to be taken up first, to be ready by November 6
Collector Mandar Patki has told departments to give village labourers work at once and to take up water conservation works first.
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To deal with drought conditions in Gondia district, village labourers should be given work immediately and water conservation works should be taken up first. District Collector and District Programme Coordinator Mandar Patki has issued these directions to the departments concerned.
Patki said the targets set under the Viksit Bharat Rozgar and Ajeevika Guarantee Mission (Gramin) must be met. Proposed works should be given administrative and technical approval, and all of them should be kept ready on the shelf by November 6, 2026.
The Relief and Rehabilitation Department of the Maharashtra government declared Gondia district drought-hit in government resolutions dated September 25, 2026 and October 14, 2026. For this reason, emphasis is being laid on planned water conservation works to create jobs in villages, hold rainwater properly and reduce the impact of water scarcity ahead.
Under the mission, a backlog of 375 works remains among those sanctioned in the district. Of these, 128 water conservation works have been planned for early execution in view of the drought. The administration is trying to ensure that these works give jobs to as many rural labourers as possible. At a meeting chaired by Collector Patki on October 16, 2026, the various departments were given targets for their works.
For effective water conservation works, the gram panchayats, along with the Zilla Parishad's minor irrigation department, the Gondia irrigation department, the Public Works Department, the agriculture department, the soil and water conservation department and the forest department, have been asked to work in coordination.
The works include irrigation wells, farm ponds, soak pits, straightening and deepening of streams, rainwater harvesting, desilting of percolation tanks, repair of tanks, cement bunds, gabion structures, earthen nala bunds, boulder checks, stone bunds, compartment bunding, nala bunding, CCT and deep CCT. Vermicomposting, paddy field development and fodder planting have also been proposed.
Each department must plan works gram panchayat-wise according to its assigned target and prepare the necessary proposals. Gram panchayats in areas found critical and semi-critical in the groundwater survey have also been told to give special attention to water conservation works.
Proposed water conservation works must be entered in the Yuktdhara system, and technical and administrative approvals must be completed on time. Looking at the targets for works already in the system, the remaining eligible works should also be added to it, and all works should be kept on the shelf. Water conservation works in the gram panchayat-wise plan prepared through BRLF should also be taken up in the same process.
The benefit of the plan is that as soon as labourers ask for work, the work concerned can be started immediately and they will get employment on time. Priority will also be given to completing unfinished or pending water conservation works, especially those linked to drought.
Good planning at the gram panchayat level is essential so that labourers get work at once when they ask for it. Officials of the departments concerned should therefore tell gram panchayat-level officers and staff to take an active part in gram sabhas. As many water conservation works as possible should be approved in the gram sabhas and the preparations needed to start them completed.
All departments concerned should ensure that proposed and approved works have been entered in the Yuktdhara system. The set targets should be met on time by coordinating among departments at every stage: planning, approval and actual execution.
Collector Patki has appealed to all departments to work with responsibility and coordination, saying the administration has begun this campaign for two purposes: giving rural labourers jobs during the drought and increasing water availability through water conservation. He asked them to give administrative and technical approval to water conservation works and keep them ready on the shelf by November 6, 2026.
