With each passing day exacerbating Maharashtra’s already fraught water situation, the Ahmednagar district administration has decided to clamp the prohibitory Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) around the Kukadi canal project.
The district becomes the third in the State after Latur and Parbhani districts (in parched Marathwada) to impose the punitive section.
Both cities of Pune and Ahmednagar draw water from this project. Rising complaints of water being diverted for irrigation has compelled authorities to take the extreme measure in a bid to ensure that waters were being released for strictly potable purposes.