Bhupendra Patel. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Canals with a cumulative size of almost 6,000 km are yet to be constructed as half of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada undertaking, the Gujarat government advised the Legislative Assembly on March 3.
Replying to a written question by Congress MLA Arjun Modhwadia on the standing of the Narmada undertaking, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who handles the Narmada portfolio, stated canals with a cumulative size of 5,975.62 km are yet to be constructed.
Although the principle canal working up to 458.32 km has been accomplished, 0.92 km of department canals, 171.67 km of distributaries, 1,070.84 km of minor canals and 4,732.19 km of sub-minor canals are yet to be constructed within the State, Mr. Patel stated in his written reply in the course of the Question Hour.
He stated pending works of minor canals would be accomplished on the earliest, topic to land acquisition and grant of permissions by varied departments, as they handed by forests, sanctuaries and below utilities similar to oil pipelines and energy traces.
Since sub-minor canals are constructed in partnership with farmers, Mr. Patel stated, pending works of such water channels will be taken up in a phase-wise method after getting permission from farmers of the command space.
He listed out what he known as some of the foremost parts of the undertaking which have already been accomplished – Garudeshwar weir and a high-level bridge on the downstream of Narmada river close to the dam, 5 pumping stations on the Saurashtra department canal, three pumping stations on Kutch department canal and a 35-megawatt canal-top solar energy undertaking on a department canal.
Mr. Patel stated the work to arrange two small hydropower stations with a mixed capability of 26.66 megawatts is at present in progress on Saurashtra and Kutch department canals and the undertaking will be accomplished by 2023-24.
While your entire undertaking is geared toward offering irrigation to 18.45 lakh hectares of agricultural land, almost 11.01 lakh hectares had been supplied irrigation within the 2021-22 water yr (July 2021- June 2022), stated Mr. Patel in his reply.
