With 2,069 large dams already dotting its landscape, Maharashtra has announced to build another 285 big dams, notwithstanding the fact that hardly any dam has fulfilled even half of its projected irrigation potential.
Though not surprisingly, Maharashtra has one of the worst irrigation records in the country, with a mere 19 per cent of the net irrigated area - just ahead of Jharkhand, Manipur and Sikkim.
But this is not the only case. Madhya Pradesh has 899 big dams, followed by Gujarat (620), Chhattisgarh (248), Karnataka (230) and Rajasthan (209).
However, among these States, except Madhya Pradesh, which has a net irrigated area of 62 per cent, no other State has achieved even 50 per cent net irrigation.
