2 minutes of readingBombayFebruary 10, 2026 21:27 IST
The state cabinet on Tuesday approved a long-term loan of Rs 15,000 crore from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to complete 57 irrigation projects in the state and reconstruct 193 existing canals that are in poor condition.
Completion of all these irrigation projects will allocate eight lakh hectares of land for irrigation facilities and will provide huge relief to the farmers of the state. The revised estimate was approved at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The water resources department will be able to expedite ongoing work and complete 57 irrigation projects within schedule using the funds. Along with these projects, 193 canals of existing and old irrigation projects will be repaired and reconstructed.
Fadnavis said, “NABARD loan approval was necessary to complete the ongoing projects which were already in various phases of completion.” More importantly, he said, “approval of work on 193 non-operational canals would go a long way in maximizing the potential of irrigation projects.”
In many cases, existing irrigation projects are not working optimally due to faulty or broken canals, he said.
The Chief Minister said: “If we took up new irrigation projects to bring eight lakh hectares of land under irrigationwould require one lakh crore rupees. Instead of minimizing expenditure and maximizing the potential of existing infrastructure, we have sanctioned a loan of Rs 15,000 crore from NABARD,” he said.
Of the total loan of Rs 15,000 crore, Rs 8,972 crore will be used to complete 57 irrigation projects. Whereas Rs 6,017 lakh will be utilized for canal work in the completed irrigation projects.