About 200 saltpan worker families in Kharaghoda area in Surendranagar district have lost their entire year's earning after Narmada water from the nearby canal entered into their saltpans.

According to sources, the water released for irrigation purpose from the recently constructed Kharaghoda Branch Canal sans the much-needed control gates seeped into saltpans spread in 30 km area in Kharaghoda. As this happened in the middle of the four-month salt production season, the workers who had spent the earlier part of the year to prepare the ground have lost the salt worth Rs 30,000.

Hingur Rabari, the district representative of the Salt Empowerment Committee, said, "The families have incurred huge losses because of the Narmada Water washing away their produce in the middle of the season." Rabari said the casualty of such magnitude has happened for the first time and that the families have lost the whole season.

Ragabhai Harka, a saltpan worker in the area, said, "I had taken a debt to work here and was hoping to take home the earning of the year. Now I will have to return home without any money to feed a family of five."

Chief Engineer of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNL), V M Yagnik, agreed that it was Narmada canal water that entered the saltpans. He said: "We released water from a recently opened branch canal after the local farmers had demanded more water for irrigation. As control gates are yet to be constructed at the canal, the flow of the water released could not be controlled. We have initiated a review of the canal and will try to balance the supply of the water to prevent flooding."