Can Narmada Change Gujarat?

Till two years ago, the day for most residents of Vallabhipur taluka, Bhavnagar district, where Solanki lives, would begin with a trek to the river. ‘‘We had to have fresh water for tea and dal,’’ explains a villager. For other needs, they made do with the brackish water available in the village itself at a depth of 20 feet — the water table was higher than in other parts of Saurashtra and North Gujarat, but the water was unfit for consumption.

All that changed with the supply of piped water from the Narmada, which made its way here through the dam 350-odd km away. ‘‘That was the first time we tasted sweet water,’’ says additional taluka development officer J J Dhanani. Locals recount how former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi accused villagers of playing a joke on him after spitting out the water they offered him to highlight their plight.

If Vallabhipur still celebrates the Narmada, two years after its water changed their lives, one can hardly hold it against Bijalbhai Surghadbhai, a 60-year-old marginal farmer in Pala village in Narmada district, when he pays obeisance to the river for increasing his cotton yield from 250 kg to 700 kg.

‘‘Till last September, I was so worried I would lose my crop when there was no sign of a last spell of rain,’’ says Bijalbhai. ‘‘Since my village is barely 30 km from the dam site, it seemed I had been hearing of the Narmada waters forever. But when the branch canal finally brought the waters here, I realised it was a miracle. My crop got a new lease of life.’’

Pala — population 2,500 — was one of the lucky villages that were not in the way of the dam, yet close enough to benefit from it early on. A convenient branch canal brought the waters here in September, thanks to a temporary nick. While not all villagers received it, overall, the mood in the village is positive: At least they are on the map.

Elsewhere, though, scepticism is rearing its head. Shira, another beneficiary village, received Narmada waters at regular intervals between September 24 and February 14. In that period, some farmers harvested two rounds of crops — this in an area where all farming was monsoon-dependent.

Since February though, the farms have been dry. ‘‘We think there will be no drought,’’ says Ranchhod Nanabhai, 65, hesitantly. ‘‘We can be sure of getting the water since the canals are ready.’’

Shira and Pala are among the handful of villages to legally receive water for irrigation from the Sardar Sarovar Project last year. (In 2001, it directed water to the parched areas of Saurashtra.) On the ground, big farmers had been pumping out water from the main canal for at least two years; the state government promises to crack down on the practice.

While part of the canal network — including the Narmada main canal, branch canals, distributaries and minor canals and projected to be the world’s largest — is complete, the government plans to rope in the beneficiaries for the crucial last leg, involving construction of the sub-minor canals and field channels.

Shira and Pala are among eight villages which have formed a cooperative society and registered it in keeping with the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) scheme of the government. Under the scheme, between 200 and 500 hectares — christened the Village Service Area — will receive water on volumetric basis.

While farmers were charged Rs 157 for ech hectare watered last year, the amount will go up in the new calculations. The projected 4000-odd farmers’ cooperatives will have to pitch in for part of the construction. But Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam officials already apprehend it will not be easy to convince the cooperatives to take the responsibility. ‘‘They want the government to pay for everything,’’ says one official.

Pala is among the few villages where most have agreed to pay cash for water. Hasmukh Prajapati, who heads the cooperative society, however, advises caution in the celebrations. ‘‘Problems related to distribution, accounting the quantum of water received by each farmer, collecting payments will come up,’’ he says.

As Kasimbhai says, water changes lives. If, after the first flush of receiving water, Pala and Shira are gearing up for the associated catches, the 52 villages in Vallabhipur is looking to assured water supply to end the migration of the middle-classes from an area that so far had no industry.

Even as villagers wait for job opportunities to materialise, at least one person is happy his workload is down. Dr C K Sutaria glances at the empty beds in his private hospital, before saying, ‘‘Water-borne diseases like gastro-enteritis and other diseases caused by excessive salt and mineral intake — flourosis, kidney and urinary stones, joint pains — have gone down by at least 80 per cent. Usually, at this time of the year, I would have five new patients every day.’’ Water, he knows, changes lives.