Title: Narmada
is the only solution, says Keshubhai
Author: Rajiv
Shah
Publication: The
Times of India
Date: April 28,
2000
GANDHINAGAR: Denying
reports of starvation deaths, chief minister Keshubhai Patel feels that
Narmada is the panacea for a permanent solution to the recurring droughts
in Gujarat. He says there is need to have watershed projects to replenish
water, but blames the previous Congress governments for not doing enough
on this score leading to overuse of groundwater.
The CM told The Times
of India News Service that there has been no death due to starvation.
``They are natural deaths because of one disease or the other. In
one case, the man who died had savings of Rs 2,000. How can he die
of starvation?''
The denial comes in the
wake of reports from Sabarkantha district, where a man and daughter reportedly
died of starvation on Tuesday. The family had reportedly been living on
a half-corn rotla a day for the last one week.
Keshubhai admitted that
the drought was ``the worst in the century'' and said Narmada held the
only solution to the state's 8,000-odd water-starved villages. Raising
the Narmada's dam's height by another 110 feet would have helped.
``Had we been allowed to raise the height, we could have begun implementation
of the project that would take Narmada waters right upto Kutch. We
have built canals, but unless water reaches that level, drinking water
will not flow down to Kutch and Saurashtra. Two Saurashtra districts
and parts of Ahmedabad are being fed water through the Narmada and the
Mahi-based pipeline project.''
He blamed the earlier
Congress governments for not initiating drives to protect the scarce water
resources. ``We didn't do enough to ensure that the underground water
we use is replenished fast enough. During monsoons, the water received
in the ponds was allowed to flow away.''
The Congress governments
did not implement the scheme to provide water to several villages together,
he alleged. Of the 43 schemes launched in 1987, only four were completed.
Checkdams were not built, village ponds were allowed to get silted and
the ponds were never deepened.
He lauded the efforts
of industrial houses in fighting the drought. ``Reliance is supplying water
free-of-cost to Jamnagar from its desalination plant. The others
are helping to procure and supply fodder,'' he added.
