Centre denied funds for Gujarat's Sauni project: Ahmed Patel

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today said that Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre refused funds for Sauni irrigation project in Gujarat.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani however said the state wasn't dependent on the Central funds for this project.
Patel tweeted that BJP government in Gujarat should explain reasons for Centre's decision to deny funds.
"Why has Centre rejected funds for Gujarat's Sauni project? Isn't it an injustice to the state or the people (who) were being sold unfeasible dreams?" Patel asked.
Reacting to the claim, chief minister Rupani said his government was not dependent on Central funds to complete the 'Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation' (Sauni) project.

"We are not dependent on central funds for Sauni project. In this year's budget there was no mention that this much grant would come from the Centre and this much from the state. We are undertaking the entire project with our own funds," Rupani told reporters here.

Work worth Rs 5,000 crore for the phase 1 of the project has been completed so far, he said.
Narendra Modi, when he was the CM of Gujarat, conceived the ambitious project, divided in four phases, under which excess water from Sardar Sarovar dam across Narmada will be taken, through pipelines, to 115 dams in Saurashtra region.

Last month Modi visited Botad to dedicate phase I of link-II pipeline of the project and lay foundation stone of the phase II of link II for Botad and Bhavnagar districts.