27% Irrigation Under Threat Across Maharashtra
By | Arvind Jadhav
Mumbai – Maharashtra’s agriculture depends heavily on a massive canal network that stretches across roughly 66,000 kilometres of the state. This system supports nearly 27 percent of irrigation, making it one of the most crucial resources for farmers. However, the canal lines are now deteriorating at an alarming pace. Ageing structures, weakened concrete lining, silt deposits, vegetation growth and inadequate upkeep have turned what was meant to be a lifeline into a recurring threat to crop security. Even in regions with full reservoirs and completed dam systems, farmers at downstream villages report receiving little to no water by the time canals are supposed to reach them.
Leaking, Breached Canals Wasting Scarce Water
Across districts, farm bodies document alarming wastage levels as canal water disappears through countless cracks, breaches and seepage belts. In many stretches, canals are so damaged that water drains into the ground faster than it flows ahead, leaving only dry mud for farmers depending on irrigation. The consequence is severe: despite paying taxes and charges for irrigation benefits, countless farmers are forced to rely on borewells, private tankers or rain-dependent cropping. This wastage is costing the state and farmers crores of rupees in lost yield, reduced planting capacity and failure of water-intensive crops such as sugarcane, soybean and paddy.
Structural Audit Pending for Decades
A glaring gap driving the crisis is the absence of a statewide structural audit. Experts and farmer organisations insist that most canals were built decades ago and have not undergone systematic technical review, stress checks or flow analysis since. Without knowing where weaknesses lie, repair work happens only reactively — after a canal collapses or farmers report drying fields. Agrarian groups argue that every year lost without audit data worsens financial loss, destroys crop potential and accelerates system failure. “We are operating in the dark,” a farmer leader noted, adding that decision-makers cannot fix what they refuse to assess.
New Irrigation Projects Overshadow Maintenance Needs
Farmer organisations say the state’s attention remains skewed toward announcing and launching new dams, pipelines and irrigation schemes while neglecting the infrastructure that already exists. Government reports celebrate the addition of irrigation potential, but farmers insist that potential means little when existing canals cannot carry water efficiently. Several groups accuse successive administrations of treating new capital works as political assets while ignoring repair and modernization — tasks that are less visible but more critical to true irrigation delivery.
Cooperative Irrigation Societies on the Brink
Many canal-dependent irrigation cooperatives, which were originally designed to distribute water equitably and manage local maintenance, are now collapsing financially. Years of declining revenue, pending crop charges, loan arrears and litigation have left these cooperatives starved of funds. Without financial capacity, they cannot hire labour, remove silt, repair breaches or clear vegetation — effectively paralyzing their original mandate. Members say that unless the state intervenes, dozens of cooperatives may shut down completely, turning farming belts into rain-fed, high-risk zones.
Demand for OTS, Funding and Bailout Measures
Farmer groups across districts are now pushing for a comprehensive restructuring that includes One-Time Settlement of debt, state-backed bailout packages and sustained budget allocation for canal rehabilitation. They argue that investing in cooperative revival will directly strengthen irrigation access for lakhs of rural households. Organisers highlight that only a functioning canal system can maximise the benefits of state irrigation spending and prevent marginal farmers from abandoning agriculture under mounting pressure.
Ground-Level Campaigns Raise Red Flags
The Shrimant Mahadaji Shinde Farmers’ Association has emerged as a central voice in the movement, organising surveys, publishing reports, documenting field conditions and filing repeated memorandums with local officials, the irrigation department and cabinet leadership. Delegations have also held meetings with ministers and senior bureaucrats, urging immediate work orders for structural inspection, desilting operations and emergency repairs before the monsoon and rabi cropping cycles. The association maintains that their efforts will continue until a statewide rehabilitation plan takes shape.
Water Crisis Now a Food Security Risk
Beyond irrigation, farmers warn that a continued breakdown in the canal network will threaten Maharashtra’s broader food system. Irrigated zones supply vegetables, fruit, sugarcane, cereals and oil crops to cities statewide. If water delivery collapses, food prices may rise, crop diversity may shrink, and urban consumers will feel the impact. Farmer groups say the canal crisis should be treated as a public concern, not just a rural complaint.
Experts Say Time Is Running Out
Water resource experts caution that Maharashtra’s canal system is nearing a point where neglect could become irreversible. Without urgent action, more canals may collapse, raising repair costs dramatically and wasting public investment in dam infrastructure. Analysts emphasize that repairing old canals is often cheaper, faster and more beneficial than constructing new irrigation facilities, especially in drought-prone districts.
Final Call for State Intervention
Farmer organisations across the region are united in their appeal: the Maharashtra government must prioritize repair, modernization and auditing of the state’s canal irrigation system before irreversible damage occurs. Massive water losses, unproductive farmland and farmer distress are stark indicators that the system’s failure is no longer theoretical — it is happening now. “Fix what we have before announcing what’s next,” farmer leaders urge, insisting that every day of delay risks pushing more cultivators into bankruptcy, migration or crop abandonment.
