Gujarat locks Narmada floodgates

Wednesday 28th June 2017 07:18 EDT
 
 

In a move boosting Narmada waters, Gujarat government has ordered the locking of 30 sluice gates at the Sardar Sarovar dam, prompting more submergence in the upstream areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The move will allow the storage of an additional 3.48 Million Acre Feet (MAC) of water to parched areas of the state.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, and a handful of senior ministers and bureaucrats visited the site to offer prayers and order closure of the gates, “It is a historic day for Gujarat and will open gates of development in the state. Narmada is Gujarat's lifeline. Prime Minister Modi has turned the vision of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel into reality,” Rupani said. The government received permission from the Narmada Control Authority to close all the radial gates, raising the dam height from the existing 121.92 metres to 138.68 metres, late on June 16.

With state elections in the offing, the move is expected to provide the BJP with a head start as it attempts to battle unrest among farmers. The revered Narmada project saw massive support from then chief minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janta Party as they pulled all stops for the completion of the dam project ahead of the 2017 elections. The state has agreed to foot the additional £55.8 million bill for rehabilitating oustees in MP and Maharashtra to meet the Supreme Court's July 31 deadline to complete Relief and Rehabilitation work, mandated by the SC to allow closure of dam gates. Overall, 46,840 Project Affected Families (PAFs) in 244 villages across the three states have been resettled.

Meanwhile, Narmada water finally reached Aji-I dam in Rajkot as the irrigation department continued to pump water from Machhu-I dam through SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation) pipeline for the third consecutive day. Modi is scheduled to formally welcome the water to Rajkot, on June 29. After overflowing six dams along its course from Tramba village, 16 km away from the city, Narmada water finally merged with the dead water of Aji-I dam, a major source of drinking water for Rajkot. An engineer of Rajkot irrigation circle said, “The water has finally hit the bed of the Aji-I dam and began merging with the dead water. We have dug a special channel so that Narmada water doesn't spread on the bed of the dam right now and directly merges with dead water. As the level of the water will rise, water will start spreading on the bed of the dam.”

Machhu dam gets water from Narmada, from Dholi Dhaja Dam near Surendranagar, while Dholi Dhaja is fed by Saurashtra Branch Canal of Narmada project. The engineer added, “We shall continue pumping water at this rate further till there is another government order. We have no order as of now to pump water till PM arrives on June 29 or stop it after he leaves.”

The SAUNI is Gujarat state government's ambitious project that aims to divert one million acre feet of floodwaters of Narmada dam to 115 reservoirs of Saurashtra through an extensive network of pipelines and augment irrigation facilities in the semi-arid region.


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