Maharashtra govt forms SPV to revitalize Waghadi river; Isha's Rally for Rivers to partner

Isha Outreach’s Rally For Rivers will support Maharashtra government to revitalize the Waghadi river in Yavatmal and offer ground support to the government to implement the project. Yavatmal district lies in the dry and water-stressed Vidarbha region which has witnessed severe agrarian distress for several years.

In March last year, the state government passed a resolution accepting the Isha’s Rally for Rivers' proposal to revive the river and allocating funding for the project. It will be executed through the state government’s existing line departments. The 'Waghadi Nadi Punarujjeevan Foundation', the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will oversee project implementation, was recently registered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The project will be facilitated on the ground by a team of 40 full-time Rally for Rivers’ volunteers (Nadi Veeras) who have dedicated three years of their lives to revive the river and bring prosperity and wellbeing to the farmer community of Waghadi river basin. The volunteers come from different parts of the country and apart from mobilizing community support for the project, they are involved in a range of diverse supportive activities.

The unique partnership project that covers a 54 km stretch of river Waghadi includes several components such as promotion of the economically and ecologically sustainable agri-horti-forestry model, micro-irrigation, soil and water enhancement, animal husbandry and formation of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). It aims to not only revive river Waghadi but also the fortunes of nearly 9500 farmers in the region which is expected to have a positive impact on the rural economy, farmer welfare, and food and water security of close to 47,000 people in the region.

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Long-term, short-term impacts

The Waghadi river revitalization project is the first project with a multi-sectoral approach to river revitalization which will be implemented with the participatory convergence of several State Departments.

Designed as an economic solution to an ecological problem, the project will establish both long-term and short-term impacts. Short-term impact includes better management of available natural resources through efficient agricultural practices such as micro-irrigation and partial adoption of non-water intensive crops. It will also establish long term economic and ecological impact by promoting plantation of high-value timber and horticulture trees.

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