The Gujarat government admitted before the Assembly today that despite spending over Rs 47,000 crore on the entire Narmada project, canals of more than 48,000 km are yet to be constructed.
During question hour, senior Congress MLA Punja Vansh raised questions related to the pending work of the Narmada canal network. Besides Vansh, some other Congress MLAs sought details about the expenses incurred for the project so far by the government.
On behalf of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel who handles the Narmada department, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama replied that Rs 47,202 crore has been spent on the entire Narmada project, including the dam, till date.
Out of these expenses, Rs 5,777.6 crore has been spent on the Saradar Sarovar Dam, Rs 6,427.5 crore has been spent on the Narmada main canal and Rs 16,960 crore has been spent on the branch canal network, Chudasama stated.
The minister also admitted that canals of 48,266 km in length are yet to be constructed, including 214.3 km of branch canals, 1590.7 km of distributaries, 8656.7 km of minor canals and 27,804.7 km of sub-minor canals. He added that work is going on in full swing and the government is determined to complete the work "as soon as possible".
Replying to another question raised by Congress MLAs about the outstanding amount to be recovered from other states under the Narmada project, Chudasama admitted that a total of Rs 5,426.24 crore is yet to be recovered from three neighboring states.
The minister stated that as on January 2015, Gujarat government is yet to recover Rs 3,547.90 crore from Madhya Pradesh, Rs 1,372.57 crore from Maharashtra and Rs 505.77 crore from Rajasthan.
