Old friends turn foes in Ambeagon as seven-time MLA Dilip Walse Patil faces stiff challenge from Devdutta Nikam

Nikam is moving connected behalf of the NCP (Sharad Pawar), portion Walse Patil, the state’s practice minister, is competing for the NCP (Ajit Pawar). Walse Patil, 1 of Sharad Pawar’s astir trusted lieutenants, has raised eyebrows and shocked galore with his determination to articulation Ajit Pawar.

Aside from Walse Patil’s alleged abandonment of Pawar senior, h2o seems to beryllium a important contented successful immoderate areas of the district. Many farmers enactment Nikam, acknowledging his erstwhile relation arsenic the Bhimashankar Cooperative Sugar Mill president and the Manchar Market Committee. His past contributions person established a affirmative estimation among the farming community, giving him an vantage implicit the existent MLA.

Ashok Pekari, the sarpanch of Phalode colony successful Ambegaon, highlighted the unequal attraction of astir 60 villages successful the taluka. This includes astir 35 villages successful the Bhimashankar country and astir 30 successful the Ahupe region, peculiarly concerning h2o distribution. Pekari pointed retired that these villages were promised reserved h2o pursuing the operation of the Dimbhe Dam task successful the 1980s, but politicians person neglected to uphold this commitment.

“The astir challenging play for america is from April to June erstwhile we beryllium connected tankers for drinking water. For the remainder of the year, we trust connected different sources. However, the existent conflict lies successful accessing h2o for irrigation,” helium said.

He further claimed that implicit the years, Rs 9,000 crore allocated by the authorities for Ambegaon’s villages and irrigation schemes had been misdirected oregon returned unused. “Despite the transition of time, the combat for irrigation h2o continues. In 2017, we officially organised nether the ‘Kalamdai Adivasi Sinchan Jal Sangathan’ to combat for our h2o rights,” Pekari explained.

Shankar Mohdule, the national secretary, emphasised that the villages down the Dimbhe Dam are facing terrible h2o scarcity. “Many villages are inactive waiting for h2o pipeline connections for irrigation. The dam originates successful our country and flows done to Karmala taluka successful Solapur district. Water is distributed to each country on the way but ours,” helium stated.

Farmers, frustrated with the deficiency of governmental action, are considering voting for Nikam successful hopes that his enactment volition code their long-standing concerns. Raju Ghode, the sarpanch of Borghar gram panchayat, expressed his vexation by stating, “Those who unrecorded adjacent the root of the dam person the archetypal close to the water, arsenic it is our rainfall that fills the reservoir. Additionally, displaced families—many of whom reside here—also merit precedence entree to the water.” He stated that, contempt the beingness of astir 60 villages, lone a fewer person received h2o taps nether the Centre’s ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme.

“The irrigation section had initially reserved astir 9 per cent of the dam’s h2o for the villages down it. However, nary of the governmental leaders, peculiarly those successful powerfulness for decades, made immoderate superior effort to fulfil this promise. Our anticipation present rests with the caller candidate,” Ghode said.

When contacted, some Walse Patil and Nikam declined to respond to these nationalist grievances. However, Patil’s long-standing dominance successful the constituency is well-established. He archetypal defeated Kisanrao Bankhele successful 1990 to go an MLA and has maintained his spot ever since. In the past predetermination successful 2019, Patil secured triumph with 1,26,120 votes retired of a full of 1,90,032.