Narmada rationing: Ripples of anxiety among Gujarat farmers; say will affect yield

Praveen Singh Thakur, an agitated farmer in his early 50s, says, “When the canal was constructed, our lands were taken. We were paid Rs 5,000 per acre then. And, today, we can not avail the benefits of the canal. We can not use the water, but the government wants to provide the water to the city people. This is injustice.”

Another farmer raised a concern about the damage that the water crisis would cause to crops and food prices. “If we won’t produce our crops, what will the urban population feed on? We will have to turn to daily-wage jobs to feed our families if our farms fail,” said Mahesh Koli, a farmer from Vastaii village, who has a family of eight members to fend for.

On Friday, when the water supply for irrigation from Narmada dam was stopped, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) officials went out on surveillance visits to prohibit anyone illegally drawing water into farms from the main canal of the dam. The officials, accompanied by State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) personnel, who have been guarding the canal point to point, towed away generators and pulled out large tubes that were being used to pull water from the canal.

The entire canal route has been divided among four surveillance teams, each supervised by respective deputy executive engineers of the area. SRPF personnel have been deployed along the route to continuously patrol the length and keep a strict watch on those trying to draw water from the canal.

A team of four SRPF personnel guards a stretch of 50 kilometers through the day. As many as 150 troops of the Narmada Battalion in Kevadia Colony are deployed along the Narmada main canal since the day the SSNNL issued notices to farmers to stop drawing water illegally from the main canal due to the depleting levels in the dam. SRPF group XVIII personnel are stationed along the main canal, in addition to 750 personnel heavily guarding the dam, which reached an all-time low level of 105.5 metres on Friday.

For the officials of the SSNNL, which has executed the order of the state government to cease water supply for irrigation from March 16, the challenge ahead is to ensure that all illegal pumps drawing water from the canal are made dysfunctional.

READ | Water crisis in Gujarat, Narmada shuts tap for farmers

Farmers say that while the notice to stop irrigation water supply is an annual feature, they are always allowed to continue drawing waters for at least until the crops turn ripe. Anticipating a similar leniency this time, too, has left the farmers dejected as the SSNNL has strictly adhered to the stipulated deadline.

In Bodeli in Chhota Udepur district on Friday, SSNNL officials faced agitated farmers, trying to explain the situation to them. “It will take us two days to get rid of all these illegal set-ups to draw water from the canal. We started at 10 am today and we shall be done with the 51-km point by the end of the day,” said K M Shah, deputy executive engineer, SSNNL, who has a jurisdiction from 33 km to 67 km point under him.

While the surveillance teams have maintained that they will not cut off the tubes until the farmers fail to pull them out voluntarily, the officials have refused to be lenient to the farmers. “The government is stricter with the notice this year. The level of water in the Sardar Sarovar dam has receded to an all-time low and we couldn’t spare them any single day further,” said Kaushik Patel, deputy executive engineer, SSNNL, who was out on surveillance with his team in the area.

In Chundeli village, farmers stood guarding their tubes and generators to dismantle it themselves should the SSNNL officials arrive because they feared that the surveillance team would “cut the tubes” which cost between Rs 6,000 to 7,000. However, asked if they would install their suction tubes again, a young farmer instantly responded, “Yes, of course. Three days after the surveillance will end, we will lay our tubes again.”

The SSNNL, which released about 9,500 cusec water into the main canal until March 15 – the deadline for the supply of irrigation water – will only release about 5,000 cusec of water through the Irrigation Bypass Tunnel (IBPT) from Friday onwards. The SSNNL officials say that cutting back on the irrigation supply would mean that the water will suffice for drinking water supply through the summer until June 30.

S S Rathore, Chairman and Managing Director of SSNNL, said the department did not anticipate any trouble during the period. Rathore said, “The deputy chief minister has clarified on the floor of the house today that we have no provision to supply water for crops during the summer. Last year, when we had sufficient water also, we did not supply water for irrigation as the water during the summer is only for drinking purposes. We do not anticipate trouble.” Rathore said the department had not sought additional SRPF security along the canal yet. “We will monitor the situation and if we feel that the water from the main canal is being misused, then we will see if we need more security there. However, right now, it would only be a speculation to say that a problem could arise,” he said.