"Construction work on a 101 km-long stretch from the Kadi Chainage in north Gujarat up to the Rajasthan border has just been completed, and we have already started releasing the waters in the NMC beyond the Kadi Chainage. The water is expected to reach Rajasthan by the middle of this month," a top SSNNL official said on Saturday.

He told The Indian Express that a team of SSNNL engineers was today sent to north Gujarat to monitor the flow of waters in the NMC.

The engineers will also visit the Rajasthan border to conduct tests and supervise the whole operation. "They have informed us that the waters released in the NMC beyond Kadi Chainage are flowing smoothly, and expected to touch the Rajasthan border by March 15 or so," he said.

Under the Narmada Tribunal Award, Rajasthan's share of water is 0.5 million acres feet (MAF), while two other participatory states – Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat – have been allocated 18.25 MAF and nine MAF of water respectively. When the Narmada waters reach Rajasthan, it will provide irrigation benefits to 2.50 lakh hectares of land in the command area, which falls mainly in Jhalore and Barmer districts. Besides, the Rajasthan government has drawn up a comprehensive plan to provide drinking water to as many as 1,100 villages in this region, said the SSNNL official.

He said as far as Gujarat is concerned, the Narmada dam project will provide irrigation benefits in 17.92 lakh hectares of land spread over 75 talukas and 15 districts in the state. It is also envisaged to provide water for domestic as well as industrial use in over 8,215 villages and 135 townships across the state. In fact, about 4,000 villages, mainly in Saurashtra-Kutch and parts of north and central Gujarat have already started receiving Narmada waters, he said.

The Socio-Economic Review – 2007-08 prepared by the Gujarat Directorate of Economics and Statistics and tabled in the state Assembly early this week, says that the Irrigation Commission defines three-fourth of the command area as drought-prone.

It says out of the total 38 branch canals of the Narmada project, work on 24 has already been completed. While the work on nine branch canals is in progress, the work on the remaining five branch canals will be taken up during the current year, it says.

The work on the Phase I distribution system has been completed in 3.41 lakh hectares out of the total 4.46 lakh hectares of irrigable command, while tenders for sub-minors in 3.68 lakh hectares have been approved. Under the Phase II distribution system, out of the total 14 lakh hectares of irrigable command, work on 1.65 lakh hectares is in progress, while work in the remaining irrigable command areas will be taken up in a phased-manner, and is planned to be completed by 2009-10.