BJP's Rajkot Lok Sabha candidate Parshottam Rupala on Monday appealed to the voters to punish Congress for what he termed “sins” committed by the party by “not allowing” installation of gates at Narmada dam and thereby, depriving Saurashtra and Kutch of Narmada water. Addressing an election meeting at Pipardi village in Vinchhiya taluka in Rajkot district late Monday, the Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying alleged that then UPA government didn’t grant permission for 10 years to the Gujarat government to install floodgates on Narmada dam. Pointing to Gujarat Water Resources and Water Supply Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya, who was seated on the dais, Rupala said, “Bavaliya is today supplying Narmada water to the entire Gujarat but it was Narendra Modi who gets credit for completing construction of Narmada dam.” “It is one thing to not be able to do work. We might agree that we might be able to do only five out of 25 works you request us to do. But commit no sin. The Congress government at the Centre committed sins by withholding permission to Narmada dam. Because the party has fielded me from here and because I am a candidate for this seat, I naturally ask you to vote for me. But I request you to also vote to punish Congress for sins it has committed,” he added. Rupala reminded the gathering that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone of Narmada dam in 1960 but its construction was completed only after Narendra Modi was became the PM in 2014. He said that within days of Modi taking oath as PM, Narmada Control Authority granted permission to install floodgates on Narmada dam. “Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets credit for completing the construction of Narmada dam. Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone but they kept it (the project) hanging fire till recent years. Likes of Medha Patkar didn’t allow our project to get clearances. Congress government at the Centre didn’t grant permission for 10 years to install floodgates.” He told the villagers that should Congress leader come to them, they should ask them about Narmada dam. “Ask them calmly what they were doing when the Gujarat government had asked for Delhi’s permission and 'what did you tell your government in Delhi and what reply you had got from it'.,” said Rupala. The comments come around a month after Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel laid the foundation stone of a pipeline canal under the Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana for pumping Narmada water to dams and ponds in villages of Rajkot’s Vinchhiya and Jasdan talukas, which receive the least amount of rainfall in the district and have no major dams providing irrigation water. Addressing another election meeting at Kamlapur village in Jasdan taluka earlier in the day, Rupala said that it was Modi who has channelled Narmada water as far away as the semi-arid Kutch district and that it was time poets and authors wrote new songs about water and Modi.
