The Gujarat government has embarked on a programme for providing drinking water from the Narmada river to 8,325 water-starved villages and 135 urban pockets at an estimated cost of Rs 8,000 crore. Gujarat water supply minister Narottam Patel today said so far work worth Rs 3,000 crore had been completed under the project. The entire project will be completed by March 2005.
The minister said the irrigation dams in Rajkot and Jamnagar districts were empty and there was likelihood of acute water shortage in Rajkot, Jamnagar and Kutch districts. To overcome this problem, the government had already launched the Narmada water canal-cum-pipeline project at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore.
The project to be completed by March 2002 would ease the drinking water problem in Rajkot city and district, Jamnagar city and district and parts of the arid Kutch region. Patel said that, under the project, a pipeline was being laid covering Malia-Morbi-Tankara and Rajkot for Rajkot district. For the Jamnagar district, pipeline was being laid covering Morbi-Tankara and Jamnagar and for the Kutch district, pipeline was being laid covering Malia-Bhachau. He said that the Narmada water would be flown from the tunnel into the canal and subsequently it would be pumped into the pipeline to meet the envisaged requirements.
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The minister further said that 700 villages of Banaskantha, Mehsana and Patan districts would be supplied drinking water from Dharoi dam through pipelines at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore from March 2002.
According to the minister, the Kadi area of north Gujarat