‘Benefits of govt schemes should not just reach villages of ministers and leaders’: Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel

Referring to Water Resources and Water Supply Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya’s speech in which he enlisted the development projects undertaken in the Jasdan and Vinchhiya talukas of Rajkot and mentioned that Narmada water will also reach BJP state vice-president Bharat Boghra’s village Kamlapur, the CM said it won’t be enough.

“Kunvarjibhai enlisted for you the numerous projects done here. This area is his constituency. Because he is a minister, we all tend to think that we will get some additional benefits. He even announced from here (the dais) that Dr Bharatbhai’s village will benefit from the schemes. But it is our resolve that they (benefits) should reach not only villages of leaders who are seated on the stage but also to the villages of you all, you common men,” Patel said.

He added, “Do draw our attention to your needs and we shall act on them for sure.”

SAUNI Yojana

A section of the 73-km-long proposed Asalpur-Adhiya feeder-line of the SAUNI Yojana will pass through Kamlapur, a village in the Jasdan taluka, before tailing into Adhiya dam on border of Jasdan and Rajkot talukas.

The Rs 181 crore pipeline will also pass through the Janada village of the Vinchhiya taluka. Bavaliya hails from the Janada village. He represents the Vinchhiya and the Jasdan talukas and parts of Chotila taluka of Surendranagar district under the Jasdan Assembly seat.

The SAUNI Yojana is the ambitious scheme of the state government to divert one million acre feet of floodwaters of Narmada to the water-starved Saurashtra region of Gujarat through the Narmada dam project’s canals and then pump it to 115 major dams of the Saurashtra through an extensive network of giant pipelines.

The Asalpur-Adhiya pipeline will tap into the Narmada water being pumped into the main pipeline of the Link-IV of SAUNI. In turn, the Link-IV main pipeline taps into Narmada water being channelled to the Limbdi Bhogavo-II dam by the Botad branch canal of the Narmada dam project in the Surendranagar district.

Known as Panchal Pradesh, the three talukas are among the most backward in Saurashtra on most parameters and due to its hilly terrain, irrigation facilities are very limited. However, the feeder line, which will be commissioned within two years, will fill four minor irrigation schemes and 12 ponds, including the ones in the villages of Bavaliya and Boghra, with Narmada water and will augment irrigation facilities for 5,676 acre of agricultural land in Vinchhiya, Jasdan an Chotila talukas.

“The project will also augment drinking water availability to more than 45,000 people living in 23 villages in these three talukas,” Patel said.

“The CM has also kindly consented to fill with Narmada water all those check-dams and ponds which are up to three kilometre away from any pipeline of the SAUNI. This will help this region,” Bavaliya said while addressing the public meeting.

A foundation stone and other aids

At the same function, the CM also laid the foundation stone of augmenting the Vinchhiya and Bhadla group water supply schemes at a cumulative cost of Rs 139 crore. He also dedicated to public a new building of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) constructed at a cost of Rs 9 crore in Vinchhiya, a bus stand of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation constructed at a cost of Rs 2.11 crore in the Atkot village near Jasdan and a river bridge constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore at the Bhadli village on the Jasdan-Gadhada highway.

The CM also handed over titles of 133 plots of land to members of denotified tribes in five villages of Vinchhiya to help them construct houses and also distributed Rs 28.94 lakh worth of aid among 214 divyangs (physically challenged).

Patel also said that on the lines of the Central government’s interim Budget, the Gujarat government’s Budget for 2024-25 focuses on the welfare of the poor, farmers, youth and women.

“The PM has developed a style of functioning in which we do what we say we will do and talk about only those things that we can achieve,” the CM said, asking for people’s cooperation in making Gujarat a developed state and thereby help India become a developed nation.