Independent agency to monitor Sardar Sarovar plan impact

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Anand, has launched a monitoring system, where an independent study will be conducted to ascertain the exact impact of the Sardar Sarovar Project on the water availability situation in the state, especially in Saurashtra and Kutch.

The government claims that over 1,200 villages of Saurashtra have been provided water through the Narmada canal and pipeline network of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

The findings of the first phase of the study, which is already complete, will be presented at a three-day Annual Partners Workshop that will be held at Anand from February 17 to 19.

Besides this, several issues including canal irrigation, watershed development and ground water stress will be discussed at the meeting.

Tushar Shah, co-ordinator of the Anand branch of the institute, said while the state government claims that 1,200 villages of Kutch have already begun receiving water through the Narmada canal and pipeline network, an independent study done on 490 villages located along the main Narmada canal shows that 62 of these 490 villages are yet to get water through the network.

"The institute has been using the network of non-government organisations (NGOs) operating in Kutch and Saurashtra to collect data on water availability and the success of the project. The data collected by us will be beneficial to the government. It will also provide a data base for the general public as well," Shah said.

Although all the 1,200 villages have not been surveyed, the survey in 500 villages so far shows that 373 villages have got water in varying quantities.

Shah said 274 are getting water on a regular basis, while the remaining are getting water for a shorter duration.

"Of the total villages we have surveyed so far, there are 62 which have not got water at all, although they are located along the main Narmada canal. In the next three months or so, the institute will complete the survey of all the villages that the government says are being provided water through the Sardar Sarovar Project," Shah said.

The institute has launched this exercise even as the government launched the 'Sujalam Sufalam' project, an ambitious water plan aimed at raising the depleting ground water levels in ten districts of Gujarat and preserving surface water.

The Rs 6,000 crore project was launched last week and will be completed by December 2005.

Close to three crore people of Gujarat will get Narmada water by 2021, according to plans drawn up by the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB), which is implementing the multi crore pipeline project to provide Narmada canal water to urban and rural parts of the state.

The action plan chalked out by the GWSSB aims at providing sufficient hygienic water to 2.41 crore of the population by 2011 and to 2.92 crore population by the end of the next decade in 2021.

The master plan, which aims at providing piped water to 135 cities and 8,215 villages of the state, will cover all urban and rural areas of Kutch and Saurashtra that have been facing a severe water crisis for the past few years.

In Saurashtra and Kutch alone, 5,825 villages and 100 cities will be covered under the master plan.

The other major districts of the state that will benefit from the project are Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Banaskantha and Sabarkantha.