A delegation of Congress MLAs led by the party's chief whip in Gujarat Assembly, Balwantsinh Rajput met Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today and handed over a memorandum demanding prompt action by the BJP-led state government to counter water scarcity in north Gujarat.
According to Rajput, out of 18,000 odd villages in Gujarat, more than 7,000 villages, mostly in northern part of the state, face acute water shortage, according to a release issued here after the Congress delegation met the Chief Minister.
"People in northern Gujarat districts like Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Banskantha and Arvalli are severely hit by water scarcity. The state government has not taken any concrete step yet in this direction," Rajput stated in the release.
The Congress memorandum claimed that very less water is available in all major dams and reservoirs in north Gujarat, the release stated.
"There are 15 dams in north Gujarat. Total storage capacity of these dams is 1,922 million cubic metres. However, only 16.71 per cent water is left in these dams at present. Since the stock of water is diminishing every day, people are facing problems due to water scarcity," Rajput stated in the release.
To overcome the situation, Congress leaders asked the Gujarat government to immediately make use of water stored in the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river, the release stated.
"Narmada dam's present level is 118.16 metres and it has 955 million cubic metres of water. We request the Gujarat government to immediately release that water into the canals of north Gujarat to stop possible migration of people due to water scarcity," Rajput stated in the release.
