State plans to cut off water to farmers who have third child 
TIMES NEWS NETWORK      14 April 05

Mumbai: The state legislative council on Thursday approved the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory bill that imposes restrictions on the number of children a farmer can have should he wish to avail of irrigation benefits. 
The proposed Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Act enables the government to deny irrigation benefits to such farmers who have more than two children from the date that the act comes into force. However, it will not apply to those who alr eady have more than two children. The proposed legislation is the brainchild of minister for water resources Ajit Pawar, who is the nephew of Union agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. It is apparently Pawar Jr’s way of checking population growth in Maharashtra. 
The new law also makes it mandatory for farmers from the state to use drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation or other measures to help save water if they intend to avail of irrigation benefits. 

Water offenders face imprisonment 

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory bill was tabled in the upper house on Thursday along with a report of the joint committee headed by Ajit Pawar. It will now have to be approved by the lower house and signed by the governor before it becomes law. 
The new law provides for the establishment of a Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority to “regulate water resources, facilitate and ensure judicious, equitable and sustainable management, allocation and utilisation of water resources, besides fixing rates for use of water for agriculture, industrial, drinking and other purposes’’. 
The new law also provides for imprisonment for its breach. The punishment may extend to six months and a fine that could extend to tenfold the annual water charges, for non-compliance of any order or direction issued under the act. 
While the two-child norm was supported in the council by the treasury benches, Shiv Sena members protested against the rule. Sena member Diwakar Raote said the bar would affect farmers’ rights to draw irrigation water.Sen’s Uddhav Thackeray has warned of an agitation if the government implements the law. 
Earlier, the joint committee report tabled in the house by committee chairman Ajit Pawar said the bill also revised the sequence of use of water from an irrigation project. Previously, after domestic use, the other uses sequentially were industrial or commercial, followed by irrigation and environment. But under the new law, the uses are domestic, agricultural irrigation, agricultural industry, followed by industrial or commercial use, the report noted. TNN 

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