Narmada supply to farmers stopped

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, March 16

Police have been deployed along the Narmada canals in north and central Gujarat regions to prevent pilferage of water as the state government stopped supply from the Sardar Sarovar dam for irrigation from today, causing unrest among the farming community.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had a month back announced the government’s decision to stop Narmada waters for irrigation from March 15 and advised farmers not to sow summer crop this season if they were solely dependent on the Sardar Sarovar Dam as the government wanted to save water and reserve it only for drinking purposes.

But this has not helped douse the anger of farmers in the north and central Gujarat regions as they have demanded water supply for another week to save the standing paddy crop.

The government, however, has refused to budge and posted police across the Narmada canals to prevent farmers from illegally lifting water from the canals, a common practice in several central Gujarat districts.

“This year, the water storage in Narmada dam is at about 50 per cent of the normal. South Gujarat has less water, while that in Saurashtra and North Gujarat is sufficient for drinking water purposes. We had already informed the farmers in advance not to sow summer crop and they have done so,” said Minister of State for Irrigation and Water Supply Parbat Patel.

Narmada waters from the Sardar Sarovar Dam reach over 12,000 of 18,000 villages and over 135 towns in the state. The current water level in the dam stood at 105 metres, lower than the critical level of 110 metres.