Audit of Agrani river revitalization works

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The Agrani River is flowing but its source is dry!*

* Demand for audit of river revitalization works*

By Vijay Lale, Journalist Daily Pudhari, Vita,Tal - Khanapur
Dist - Sangli Maharashtra.

The

Agrani

River at Khanapur Ghat was surveyed in 2013 for revitalizati on work. At that time, we were told that work should be done from the source of the

Agrani

. However, the expected work was not done there. Today, although the

Agrani

River is flowing, its source remains dry, said renowned international hydrologist and founder of Jal Biradari Dr. Rajendrasinh Rana in April 2024, i.e. after about 11 years.

Agni, an important tributary of the Krishna River. Which flows through Maharashtra and Karnataka. The source of this river is Tamkhadi in Khanapur taluka of Sangli district.

It falls within the boundaries of the village of Addsar Wadi. Further, after traveling 60 km from Sangli district, it meets the Krishna near Hulagballi village in Belgaum district of Karnataka after covering a distance of 45 km. The basin of the Agni river is included in a total of 5 talukas, namely Khanapur, Tasgaon, Miraj, Kavathe Mahankal in Sangli district of Maharashtra and Athani in Belgaum district of Karnataka. While 107 villages are in this basin in Sangli district. There are a total of 7 catchment areas in the basin of this river. This includes a 22.5 km long tributary called the Mahankali river. However, the existence of this river had disappeared in Khanapur taluka due to silt, soil and bushes. At the end of 2012, when Comrade Sampatrao Pawar, the pioneer of the Baliraja Dam in the taluka, went to a Jalbi Radari program in Pune, he informed Dr. Rajendra Singh about the remoteness of the

Agrani

river and called him to inspect this river. After that, the water community, the Maharashtra government's Jalyukt Shivar Yojana and public participation started the Agrani River revival work in 2013. After two years of work, the Agrani River flowed again. However, while the revival work was incomplete, Dr. Rajendra Singh and other people from the water community, some concerned officials of the state government and some enthusiastic people from the district started advertising the revival as if the Agrani River did not exist and that it had been newly created.

He took videos and photos of specific places and publicized the work of the team. Therefore, in the same year that the river first became a river, i.e. in 2015, Dr.

Rajendrasinh Rana received the Stockholm Water Prize, which is also known as the "Nobel Prize for Water". Notably, this award was given to him for his work in water conservation. Later, in 2020, he received the National Water Award for this revival work.

However, while this picture was there, on the other hand, the water of the Tembu Upsa Scheme was diverted towards the Agrani through the Lender stream near Balwadi (Kha) village, and the riverbed was flowing from there. Also, in the last two to three years, the water of the Tembu itself was diverted towards the villages of Jadhavwadi and Gorewadi, and the riverbed gets water. The villages of Adsarwadi - Posewadi, Tamkhadi, Ainwadi etc. near the source do not get water. So, the main river, from Balwadi Bena Pur, Sultan Gade and further up to Siddhewadi Lake in Tasgaon taluka, is flowing only in the form of a canal due to silt and soil being deposited on both sides of the riverbed. In the name of deepening and widening, the natural flow of rainwater towards the river has been blocked in many places in the entire riverbed of Khanapur taluka. In many places, the tidal inlets have also been destroyed. In the name of removing villages from the riverbed, good sand has been literally scraped away. Also, those places where there are rocks

They have been kept the same. As a result, in some places (for example, near Karanje village), the original shape has changed and the riverbed has also been diverted. Due to this, if there is a heavy rain, it seems that three rivers are flowing at the same time. This causes great loss to the farmers on both sides of the riverbank. Now, I will mention only three news items here.

1) Riverbed changed from Jalyukta Shivara in Karanjeh (Daily Pudhari news dated October 4, 2015) The riverbed between Sultangade and Karanje villages has literally become a path. Here, in the field of Vithoba Madane on the eastern bank of the river, the earlier 120-degree bed has been diverted by 90 degrees by turning a bulldozer. Due to this, as much as one and a half acres of Mr. Madane's farm has gone into the bed. On the other hand, the bed on the western side has shrunk. On the other hand, private wells have been dug in the riverbed along the road from Karanje to Ramnagar (Old Mulanwadi).

2) 30 dams in Awantipora washed away; Sand mining hit, 15 wells on the riverbanks flooded. (News in Dai. Pudhari dated September 25, 2015) Last week, due to the rainfall of 64 mm in one day, more than 30 earthen dams burst, besides, the silt without sand, which was deposited on the banks, fell back into the basin, the silt extracted during the deepening and widening of the river was deposited on both sides, resulting in huge excess water accumulation in the farmlands on both banks.

The land has been eroded. Because of the silt on both banks, natural systems like ooat or panand for the excess water to flow into the river have been blocked and most importantly, there is no water left in the original river.

3) While there is a flood situation in the Krishna Kath area of Athani taluka, on the other hand, the bed of the Agrani river has dried up (July 17, 2022, news given by a representative of Sambargi village in Pudhari) Farmers in the same taluka are in trouble due to conflicting situations. On the one hand, there is a threat to crops due to water, on the other hand, there is concern about how crops will survive without water. Villages in both areas are facing problems. The Agrani river is 60 kilometers away in the northern part of Athani. Every year, when there is a flood in the west, this river remains dry. The river has never flowed for the last six months. Because the amount of rainfall in the area is very low. It is time to call farmers water during the rainy season.

So, what exactly has been the benefit of the Agrani river revival work program overall and who has benefited? Just as there is a structural audit of suspicious or critical construction, there should be an audit of these revitalization works. But the question is, who will do it ?

Here are some photographs of Agrani river works......