Repair breaches in Narmada canals immediately: Guj HC to Govt

The Gujarat High Court today directed the state government to immediately repair the breaches in the Narmada water canals.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice V M Sahai and Justice J B Pardiwala, while hearing a petition on the issue, also directed the state government to submit the compliance report by June 12 when the next hearing of the plea has been fixed.
The petition, filed by one Amrish Patel, drew attention of the court to several breaches in the Narmada water canal branches and sub-branches at Dholka, Dhandhuka and Sanand talukas near hear.
During the hearing today, while asking the state government to pay serious attention to the issue raised in the petition, the bench also observed that, "due to water scarcity in the state, people committed suicide and large number of animals died. These canals should be immediately repaired since they are the only source of water for this region."

The court has also asked the authorities to provide water to villages like Kariyana and Raanch through pipeline till the canals are repaired.
The petitioner had sought direction from the court to the state government to forthwith take up the work of repairing and maintenance of all the minor and sub-minor canals, which are connected to Dholka, Koth, and Rajpur Branch Canals along with other minor and sub-minor canals in Ahmedabad district.
The petition also demanded an enquiry into the alleged negligence in maintaining the canal network and fix the responsibility of the concerned officers for dereliction of duty.