The Maharashtra Cabinet has approved Rs 4,775 crore to complete the long-pending Bembla river irrigation project in Yavatmal district, reviving a scheme which saw delays and cost overruns in Vidarbha for over five decades.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis amid continuing agrarian distress in the region. Conceived in 1983 with an initial cost of ?50.76 crore and sanctioned in 1992, the project saw repeated revisions and delivered only limited irrigation benefits. Built on the Bembla river near Khadak Sawanga village, it falls under the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation and the Godavari basin. Officials said momentum returned after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed stalled projects and directed completion “within a stipulated timeframe”.

Once completed, the scheme is expected to irrigate 58,768 hectares across five talukas of Yavatmal. The Cabinet also cleared Rs 89.32 crore for rehabilitating Mouza Dhamak village, to be developed as a model settlement. It will also aid local livelihoods significantly.