Narmada canal phase-II from Jan

Work on the second phase of the ambitious Narmada canal based pipeline project covering 661 villages will be started in January next year, said Narottam Patel, Gujarat minister for water supply and irrigation, on Wednesday.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said, "The state government has fulfilled the promise given to the people of Jamnagar by commissioning the first phase of the Narmada pipeline project a month ahead of its schedule before last summer, when even a drop of water was precious for the temple town."

He said the work on the second phase will be started in January 2004 and the project will cover 17 towns and 661 villages of Jamnagar district.

He said that the state government has initiated the river grid project from this monsoon and 90 rivers and tanks were charged with Narmada flood waters.

In the second phase, water of Daman Ganga will be brought to Sabarmati river through 400 km long pipeline and from there through the Narmada's branch canal it will be flown to the rivers of Saurashtra and Kutch region.

Nearly 10 rivers and 12 irrigation projects at a cost of Rs 120 crore have been identified for getting connected under the project, bringing more than 20 thousand hectares of agricultural land under irrigation, he said.

The minister said the state government has given special stress on the water conservation and the state has become a model state in the construction of the small check dams by creating 25,000 such check dams in the state. This year the government has embarked upon a massive check dam drive.

With the help of corporates, as many as 35 dams have been constructed across big rivers in the state. More 800 dams are in pipeline for 21 big rivers, he said.