A farmers' body has claimed that about 2.48 million acre feet of water should be surplus in Sardar Sarovar dam and available for farmers for irrigating fields, but is not provided. They have written a letter to chief minister Vijay Rupani, seeking break up of usage of water in terms of irrigating farms or refilling of lakes. It suspects that water is being diverted for industrial use as the consumption is not properly classified.
In the letter, Sagar Rabari, founder president of Gujarat Khedut Ekta Samiti said that the claim made by government that there is not enough water in Sardar Sarovar Dam does not meet the eye. "The dam is meant to provide irrigation water to water scarce regions of Saurashtra and north Gujarat. However, farmers have take to the streets to get the water they deserve," Rabari wrote in the letter.
Quoting figures from Narmada Control Authority (NCA), he said that from July 2018 to April 16, 2019, Gujarat got 6.038 million acre feet (MAF) from the dam network. Water is being released into Sardar Sarovar Dam from the upstream dams and 0.93 MAF water is available in the dam.
On the consumption side, a little over one million acre feet is used to supply potable water and 2.857 MAF for irrigating rabi crops. This means that close to 2.481 MAF water should be surplus. However, the government has stopped releasing water for irrigation February 15 onwards, claiming that not enough water is available. A senior official in Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd said that the figure quoted in the letter were incorrect.
GUJ GOT 6 MAF WATER
The government stopped releasing water for irrigation February 15 onwards, claiming that not enough water is available. A press statement issued by the state government on Monday claimed that against 5.41 MAF water, the state received in 2017-18, it received 6.09 MAF in 2018-19, of which 1.04 MAF is used for water supplies, 1.8 MAF for kharif irrigation and 3.2 MAF for rabi irrigation.
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