During a debate on the demands of the Narmada and water resources department in the state assembly on Monday, the ruling BJP and opposition Congress once again had a heated debate on the Narmada issue. The BJP and Congress members unanimously passed the demands but not before throwing up a political blame-game for the project delay.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, said: "Narmada project is the lifeline of Gujarat and the Congress has always championed the cause. At present, the height of the dam is 121.92 metre and it has capacity to fetch water in canals even if the height is 110 metre. Madhya Pradesh is effectively using the capacity of their dams on Narmada and due to their many power projects, Gujarat is getting the huge flow of water but unfortunately, Gujarat could not use this water due to its lack of capacity to carry it in canals and supply it for irrigation. Gujarat gets 9 million acre feet of water which can irrigate 19 lakh hectare farmland but due to the state government's criminal negligence, the state can get irrigation water only for 1 lakh hectare. These canals should have been completed in 2004.''
Gohil further said, "Gujarat is not going to benefit from raising the height of the dam. Gujarat is getting only 16% share in electricity. Kutch should have got water by now but it has got nothing. The quality of canals is so poor that it gets damaged very often. There is a huge corruption in making canals.''
While rejecting Gohil's allegations, water resource minister Nitin Patel said, "The ambitious Narmada project has not been completed for so many years because of the Congress."
However, he appreciated present Congress leaders like Shaktisinh Gohil and Ahmed Patel's contribution for the project. He said that the state government had allocated Rs1,849.25 crore for various water resource development projects.
He also announced various water resource development projects for the state to be taken up in the coming financial year.
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