Farmers deprived, more Narmada water channelled towards Rajasthan amid polls, alleges Congress MLA; govt rejects claim

In a letter to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel sent on December 1, Kirit Patel urged him to direct officers concerned to release water in the Sujalam-Sufalam Yojana (SSY) canal. “…Water has not been released in the Sujalam-Sufalam canal for a long while. This has created a shortage of irrigation water for farmers in north Gujarat. Unseasonal rains have caused large-scale damage to farmers, crops and if their crops are damaged further for shortage of irrigation water, farmers of north Gujarat will have to suffer huge losses,” the Congress MLA wrote in his letter.

The Patan MLA also claimed that the water level in the Narmada Main Canal (NMC) is low … so, the water is not being released in the Sujalam Sufalam spreading canal. “I have spoken with officers concerned in this regard. According to them, the water level in the main canal of Narmada is not sufficient and therefore they are unable to pump water into the Sujalam-Sufalam canal,” wrote the Congress leader, requesting the Chief Minister to pass instructions to release water into the SSY network immediately. The neighbouring state had the Congress government in power before the BJP won in the latest assembly elections.

Speaking with The Indian Express, the Congress MLA alleged that Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL), a Gujarat government undertaking which controls the Narmada dam project, channelled more water towards Rajasthan, leading to a decrease in water availability for north Gujarat farmers.

“When I enquired about the reason for the low water level in the main canal of Narmada, I gathered that SSNNL channelled more water towards Rajasthan to augment supply there during the assembly election. But this in turn deprived farmers of North Gujarat,” said Kirit Patel, adding, “No water has been pumped in the Sujalam Sufalam network for the past 20 days.”

Kunvarji Bavaliya, Gujarat’s Minister for Water Resources and Water Supply, however, rejected the Congress MLA’s allegations. “The allegations that more water was supplied to Rajasthan during the election in that state are baseless. The fact is that the water level in NMC was affected as there was some technical fault at the powerhouse on the canal around 8-10 days ago and therefore discharge of water into the canal was affected. This had created temporary fluctuation and shortage of irrigation water in Gujarat, including Saurashtra, north Gujarat etc,” Bavaliya told The Indian Express.

AF Bhoraniya, Chief Engineer, (Electrical & Mechanical, Vadodara), SSNNL, further said that in mid-November, four of the five 50MW installed turbines were functional. However, one of the four turbines developed a technical snag and tripped, causing downtime for about two days. Bhoraniya said, “One of the four functional turbines developed a snag in mid-November and tripped, causing downtime of about two and a half days… It caused a loss of about 4,500 cusecs of water per day into the main canal. However, the issue was rectified swiftly.”

The NMC is a contour canal originating from Sardar Sarovar, popularly known as Narmada dam, built across river Narmada at Kevadia in the Narmada district south Gujarat. The 458-km-long NMC passes through central and north Gujarat regions of the state and provides irrigation water to water-starved and drought-prone areas of Saurashtra, Kutch and north Gujarat regions of Gujarat as well as Barmer and Jhalore districts of Rajasthan.

The SSY, on the other hand, is a project of diverting excess waters of the Kadana dam on the Mahi River and Narmada dam to various dams and natural drains in areas of the north Gujarat region not falling in the command area of Narmada. SSY is designed to fill up around 700 village ponds and check-dams through around a 935-km-long network of pipelines as well as by diverting water into local rivers and rivulets.

Polling for the assembly election in Rajasthan was conducted on November 25. Results were announced on Sunday and BJP emerged victorious by defeating Congress which was in power.

The SSNNL also rejected the allegation of supplying more water to Rajasthan. “We commit to supply water to Rajasthan as per the award decided by the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal, which is 0.5 MAF or more in a water year (July 1 to June 30). If we have surplus water, above 28 MAF (million acre feet) in the Narmada basin, the share of all the states proportionally increases… As far as the supply within Gujarat is concerned, it is the WRD that makes the request as needed and the water is supplied up to the decided quota. The WRD then provides the water to the Sujalam Sufalam as well as SAUNI yojana,” an SSNNL officer told this paper, adding this year, there is surplus water in the Narmada basin.

The officer added that from Gujarat’s share of Narmada water, the state government has allocated 0.77 MAF to its Water Resources Department (WRD) and the WRD can draw it by March 15, 2024.

Officers of the irrigation department said that SSNNL prioritises its command area. “It gives water to farmers falling in its command area whereas SSY gets water only when additional water is available,” said a senior officer.

Another officer said that the water supply into the SSY pipeline catering to Patan taluka was disrupted due to maintenance work. “Our pumping station at Khorsam-Matpur, which pumps water to various ponds in Patan taluka, had remained shut for some time for maintenance work. However, it has been fixed now,” said an officer of the Irrigation Department.