The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure has approved Special Assistance to Bodwad Parisar Sinchan Yojana of Maharashtra in the form of a one time Grant of Rs.500 crore. An official release said, considering the backwardness of the Vidarbha region and the water scarcity in Jalgaon district, this additional assistance in the shape of one time Grant would assist the Government of Maharashtra to impart sufficient momentum to this project for speedy execution.

The project was approved by Planning Commission in May, 2011 with the estimated cost at Rs.2178.67 crore and likely to be completed by 2016.

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure also approved the enhancement of budget by Rs.5236 crore for laying of alternate communication network for defence services for release of spectrum over and above Rs.8098 crore already approved by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure.

The objective of this financial approval is to get the Defence Optical Fibre Cable network implemented for which the cost estimate has escalated by Rs.5236 crore due to change in specifications and other requirements emanating from the user.

This includes the network for Army, Navy and Tri-services backbone. This network will be implemented by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in 36 months.