Written by: Gopal Kateshiya
3 min readRajkotOct 9, 2015 03:37 PM IST
First published on: Oct 9, 2015 at 03:37 PM IST
The State government will lay an express feeder line from Chavand in Amrelit district to Dhoraji in Rajkot district and augment capacity of four pumping stations for providing Narmada water to 156 villages and five towns of Rajkot in the parched Saurashtra region at the cost of Rs 600 crore, Water Supply Minister Vijay Rupani announced on Friday.
“Last year, we had to supply water through tankers to Upleta, Dhoraji, Jamkandorana, Bhayavadar and Dhoraji talukas of Rajkot district as these towns and villages in these talukas are not directly linked to Narmada pipeline network presently. To ensure that these towns and 156 villages get Narmada water whenever required, we have decided to augment pumping capacity of four pumping stations and lay bulk pipelines connecting these towns with Narmada water supply pipeline grid,” Rupani said while addressing a press conference.
Rupani said not only this, work was in progress on war-footing to connect Bhadar-II dam near Dhoraji with Moj and Venu dams by laying a pipeline from Bhadar-II to Upleta and that it was expected to be completed by December-end. Due to scanty rainfall in these five talukas, Moj and Venu do not have much water and therefore drinking water will be supplied from Bhadar-II. Saurashtra region faces drinking water shortage almost each summer and water pumped from Narmada cananls becomes the only lifeline for many parts of the region.
“With this capacity augmentation, 579 villages of Rajkot district will be covered with Narmada water supply grid and additional 20 million liters per day (MLD) water will be available to Junagadh also. When this project is completed, the shortage of drinking water will become a past in Saurashtra,” Rupani further said.
Ravi Solanki, chief general manager of Gujarat Water Infrastructure Limited (GWIL) said that under the Rs596 crore, a bulk water pipeline will be laid from Botad to Gadhda parallel to the existing line. The new line will be 27 km long and will have capacity to carry 120 MLD water. Moreover, a 153 km long express feeder line will be laid from Chavand to Upleta at the cost of Rs323 crore. To pump water to newer areas, the pumping capacity of Navda pumping station near Barvala in Botad will be augmented from existing 450 MLD to 500 MLD. Similarly, capacity of Botad pumping station will go up to 443 MLD from the existing 383 and that of Gadhda in Botad to 439 from 314. Pumps at Chavand will be replaced by new ones and an additional pumping station of 120 MLD will be constructed there to take its cumulative pumping capacity to 389 MLD from the existing 264 MLD.
“Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has given her approval for the project and tenders will be soon out. Our target is to complete the project in 18 months after tendering is done,” Rupani said.
The Minister added that around 75 per cent villages in Saurashtra were connected by some pipeline network of other to get Narmada water.
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