Over 66pc Narmada canal work yet to get over:CM tells Assembly

The Gujarat government is yet to complete over 66 per cent work related to the construction of Narmada canal network, it was revealed in the state Assembly here today.
During the question hour in Assembly today, Congress MLA from Viramgam, Tejashree Patel, asked the government to provide latest figures about the pending work of Narmada canal in the state.
In her written answer, Chief Minister Anandi Patel, who handles the Narmada project, admitted that except the main canal, the work on the project is yet to get over.
The whole network is divided into five major avenues- main canal, branch canals, sub-branch canals, major distributaries and secondary distributaries.

According to Patel, the total length of all the canals is 74,626 km, out of which, the government is yet to construct canals with cumulative length of 49,546 km, as only 25,078 km are built till date.
Patel stated that the construction of main canal, having a length of 458.32 meters, has already been completed.

Out of the 2,585 km long branch canals, 2,322.15 km has been done, while work is underway for remaining 262.85 km stretch.
Out of 5,112 km long sub-branch canals, construction for 3,103.04 km has been completed, while 2008.96 km of sub branch canals are yet to be constructed.

The chief minister claimed that out of 18,413 km long total network of major distributaries to be built, 9,434 km is yet to be covered. So far, major distributaries covering 8,979 km have been built. Similarly, 37,841 km long secondary distributaries are yet to be constructed out of total planned length of 48,058 km.
Recently, the Centre gave a green signal to install gates on Narmada dam. However, the state Congress alleged that it would of no use, as the state government failed to complete the construction of canal network in time.
In her written reply to Tejashree Patel, the CM gave an assurance that the state government is "determined to finish the entire canal network as soon as possible".