In a bid to ensure timely water supply for irrigation in parched areas of Banaskantha district in North Gujarat, farmers in the region have volunteered to give their lands for construction of Narmada canals.
The proposed canal will irrigate over 1.7 lakh hectare land which mainly depends on rains for irrigation.
"Banaskantha is the only district where farmers have given possession of their lands for building canals without land acquisition process," R K Tripathy, Managing Director, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) said.
Around 3,000 hectare land is required to build branch canals, distributories, minors and sub minor canals in this border district and it would take at least two years to get the required land through land acquisition process, he said. Officials of SSNNL and Minister of State for Health Parbatbhai Patel, who represents Banaskantha constituency in the state assembly, convinced the farmers to hand over the possession of their lands so that canal works can be expedited, Tripathy said.
