Gujarat Banks On Sardar Sarovar For Water

With a major portion of Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat reeling from an acute shortage of water, the Gujarat state government appears to have pinned its hopes on factors that are beyond its control- the Sardar Sarovar dam and the rainfall.

The government has already begun to press for the completion of the Sardar Sarovar dam with renewed vigour.

Following its inability to come up with any viable long-term solution to the water problem, the government is positing the completion of the dam as the cure for all its ills.

The Centre too seems to be in agreement. "If the dam is constructed at a height of 110 metres, then the drinking water problem of this region can be solved. The Narmada waters can be channeled into the drought affected areas. However to have enough water for generating electricity the height of the dam should be raised to around 145 metres," says Vallabhbhai Kathiria, union minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises who is an MP from Rajkot.

 

A crucial Supreme Court judgement on the dam is expected in the end of June, Kathiria said. Government observers say as the drought has received widespread national media coverage, the dam's supporters can now take maximum advantage of the sympathy generated for the drought-affected to mobilise support for the dam.

However, given that the dam has been a thorny issue for several years now and successive governments have been unable to achieve much, the legitimate question that arises is whether the government should not be thinking of other long-term alternatives.

"It is no secret that this is a water-shortage region. Given this fact, the establishment should be looking at other long-term solutions," says a local mediaperson.

Even now, both the local media of Saurashtra and its population believes the government's response to the water scarcity has been knee-jerk.

By drilling bores into dried-up dams it is only depleting the existing resources of ground water. Many check dams that it says it has constructed to prevent rain water from wasting into the sea, are believed to be damaged and therefore of no use.

Questioned about long-term solutions, bureaucrats and politicians say they are "optimistic" about this year's rainfall. But news of a poor rainfall this year too has already started seeping in from different quarters.