No water crisis: CS after visit to Narmada dam

The chief secretary of Gujarat Dr JN Singh visited Sardar Sarovar Dam on Tuesday and reviewed the condition of water storage in the reservoir. He assured that Gujarat does not need to worry about the availability of water in summers as there was sufficient stock of water in a reservoir.

Talking to DNA, Singh said, “I visited the dam site and also held a meeting with the officials there. There is sufficient water stock in the reservoir and people do not need to worry about the shortage of water during the summer season. We have the water stock that could be utilised until the July end and probably beyond that too. Even if the rain is delayed, we will be able to keep the water supply continue till the next monsoon.”

“The live storage of water at present in the dam can be utilised until the end of February. We are going to start using the additional water from dead storage only after that. The Narmada Control Authority has recently given us the permission to use 1 lakh Million Acre Feet(MAF) water from dead storage of water in the reservoir,” Singh added.

The chief secretary also visited the site of Statue of Unity(SOU) at Sadhu Bet near the Sardar Sarovar Dam where the world’s tallest 182-meter tall statue of Sardar Patel is under construction. He said that the construction will be over by October 31 this year.

“The construction of statue will finish by October end and the viewer’s gallery including the exhibition and related project are also in progress. We are taking cooperation from ministry of culture of the government of India and archives of Sardar Patel. We hope that entire project will be ready soon and will be kept open by October 31.” A special rope-way also will be installed for the visitors at Statue of Unity site so that people can take a look of the statue and Sardar Sarovar Dam and can reach from one side to another side of River Narmada.