New Delhi
Arid Saurashtra in Gujarat will soon have 'acchey din' as the much ambitious
Saurashtra Narmada Avatarana Irrigation Yojana (SAUNI) project is set to supplement floor water to about 115 existing dams.
These dams have been selected based on the deficit storage study for
last ten years.
The Phase I works started in April 2014 when Narendra Modi was still the chief minister of the
western state and the project sought to strengthen irrigation facilities in 166,000 acre areas of
16 reservoirs. This phase of works is already commissioned at a total cost of Rs 6473 crore.
"With all the three phases done, the much talked about scarcity of water would be reduced in the Saurashtra
region and in the ultimate it will strengthen existing facilities of irrigation for as much as 8,24,871 acre land,"
says Rajkot Collector, Arun Mahesh Babu.
Saurashtra region is located in western part of Gujarat along the Arabian coast and covers 11 socially sensitive
and politically crucial districts Rajkot, Jamnagar, Parbandar, Amreli, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar,
Morbi, Devbhumi-Dwarka, Gir-Somnath and Botad.
Officials say the annual rainfall in Saurashtra region is 450-600 mm and is received on average within 20-45 days.
Water scarcity is an issue though efforts were made to harness rainwater through 63,000 checkdams, 73,000 farm ponds
etc.
"Some larger intervention is required and hence the relevance of the SAUNI project," says Collector Babu.
Local people especially in villages have their problems.
The Bhader Dam, built for irrigation in 1994, in Gondal taluka is, for example, about 50 kilometre away from Moti Parabdi
village.
Farmers complain of water shortage for their fields as tapped water is used during crises to meet the drinking water needs of
Rajkot district.
Villagers often have to resort to drilling exercise and in the process harm agi prospects of their land and also have to incur
expenditures.
Now, officials say the SAUNI project will make a big difference in the entire region.
When all the three phases of works are complete, a total of 115 dams would be filled up. These include 24 in Rajkot,
six in Morbi, one in Gir-Somnath, 3 in Botad, 24 in Jamnagar, 13 in Junagadh, 12 in Amreli and 11 in Bhavnagar and so
on.
Sharing details of work progress, officials say Phase II and III works are going on in full swing.
Under Phase II, irrigation facilities in 378,000 acre area of 57 reservoirs will be strengthened.
Similarly for Phase III, the target is 2,81,000 acre-area of 33 reservoirs.
Answering questions, Collector Babu says, "Since the commissioning of Phase I, citizens got benefit of
the scheme in 2017 and 2018 and sufficient quantity of drinking and domestic water has been supplemented
in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Gondal city and Botad district among others.
In many villages, according to common people, the farmers are even eager to install check dams on their
farms. Of course, they can do so only with government support.
ends
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