Besides the acute drinking water shortage being experienced in Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat, the Cabinet also expressed serious concern over the withering of standing crops due to delayed second round of the monsoon in the region.

A contingency plan prepared by the concerned Government departments was also reportedly discussed at the meeting. Among other things, the contingency plan contains details about the acute water crisis, crop situation and the prospects of fodder shortage in the districts where the scarcity-like situation is prevailing.

With the Lok Sabha elections barely two weeks away, the Chief Minister has expressed his serious concern over the current water crisis in Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat and directed officials to undertake, on a war-footing, the various water schemes planned by the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB).

At the Cabinet meeting, State Water Supply Minister Narottam Patel apprised the Chief Minister of the steps being taken by his department to ease the drinking water crisis.

Minutes before going to the Cabinet meeting, the Minister told Express Newsline that his department had already started implementing the Rs 70 crore project to provide drinking water to Rajkot and its surrounding villages. Under the project about 120 bore-wells are being dug in a 165 sq km area near Vankaner and Jasdan, from where the water will be supplied through a pipeline to Rajkot.

He said the work on the project was expected to be completed by October 5, under which the water will be drawn from the bore wells and stored in the Aji dam through a pipeline and then supplied to Rajkot. While 70 of the 120 bores has already been set up, the digging work up to 24 km of the total stretch of 150 km for laying the pipeline has been completed, Patel said.

About 40 million litres per day (MLD) of water would be made available for Rajkot and another 10 MLD for its nearby villages under this project, the Minister said, adding that a similar project costing over Rs 17 crore was being implemented on a war-footing to tide over the drinking water crisis in Surendranagar.

Meanwhile, Minister for Narmada and Major Irrigation Projects Jay Narayan Vyas said the water available in medium and major irrigation reservoirs was just 8,560 million cubic feet (MCFT) as against their storage capacity of 78,720 MCFT. Around the same time last year, 26,850 MCFT water was available in these reservoirs.

Vyas said in view of the present water crisis in Saurashtra, the Government had decided to reserve all the water available in these reservoirs for drinking purpose only, and make it available for irrigation only after taking due permission from the Government. The situation in North Gujarat is no better and with the reservoirs in the region almost empty, it may create drinking as well as irrigation water shortage in the coming days, he said.