Gujarat puts dispute aside, seeks water from Rajasthan

Gujarat puts dispute aside, seeks water from Rajasthan
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, SEPT 19: Starved for water with a looming drought, the Gujarat government has written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to come to Gujarat's rescue by releasing water from its Mahi Banas Sagar dam and help ease the scarcity in Saurashtra as also Ahmedabad city.

Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has dashed off a desperate letter to his Rajasthan counterpart requesting him to temporarily put on the backburner the dispute over distribution of water from its Mahi Banas Sagar dam and help Gujarat.

Patel has written that there is just about 10 per cent water in the Kadana dam in Panchmahals, which also feeds Ahmedabad, and the flow into Kadana had considerably reduced. It may be recalled that there is a running dispute between Gujarat and Rajasthan, for the Kadana dam waters, which were envisaged to reach Rajasthan when the dam was conceived, never reached that State.

Subsequently, Rajasthan set up the Mahi Banas Sagar dam on a height. As a result, the flows into Kadana reduced. This set off the dispute between the two states over sharing of waters from the Rajasthan dam. Official sources revealed that this year the flow has considerably reduced, creating a crisis of sorts.

If Rajasthan releases water from the dam, which is 60 per cent full at the moment, into Kadana dam, it will reach Ahmedabad and then be fed into the Mahi-Pariyej pipeline scheme (Saurashtra pipeline scheme) to Saurashtra. Official sources said the government expects the Mahi-Pariyej scheme to be partially commissioned in over two months. With the speed having been increased, it is hoped that by December, the pipeline will feed Amreli and by January-end, Bhavnagar.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also reviewed the water situation in the State and asked the departments concerned to urgently prepare district-wise water scarcity master plans. The meeting was attended by Water Supply Minister Narottam Patel, Minister of State for Water Supply Harjivanbhai Patel, Chief Secretary L N S Mukundan, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) K V Bhanujan and Water Supply Secretary R K Tripathi, Adviser to the Chief Minister S K Shelat and others.