How a pond for Modi became a black hole for this Gujarat farmer

But today, the farmer is stuck with the pond, which he says he never wanted, and a fence to go with it.

Says Chavda: ‘‘After the rains, the road to the original pond chosen for the inauguration became inaccessible and officials began looking for one closer to the road. That’s when they spotted my farm. Gram sevaks, the sarpanch and government officials approached me but I did not want a pond on my farm. I agreed after they promised me that once the function was over, they would fill it up.’’

After Modi launched the Sujalam Sufalam scheme on his farm, Chavda says officials did fill up the pond, as promised. But a few weeks later, they dug it up again. ‘‘They told me they wanted to dig the pond again as it was the one which the CM had inaugurated. They said if word got out that the pond was gone, they would lose their jobs,’’ says Chavda. ‘‘Now I am left with a pond I don’t want in my field.’’

Admits Taluk Development Officer R N Bhatt: ‘‘The site of inauguration was changed after the rains and the pond was filled up after the inauguration. But we do not know who did it. We just dug the pond again.’’

District Development Officer (DDO) B N Pandya confirms the incident but passes the buck to the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA). ‘‘You ask them (DRDA),’’ he says.

But DRDA chairman D Rao unveils a standard line: ‘‘I am yet to receive any such complaint.’’

Sarpanch Vijaysinh Chavda says the farmer’s got it all wrong. ‘‘We never promised him that the pond will be filled again. But the villagers went ahead and filled it on their own because there were a couple of minor incidents where children got hurt after they used the pond as a swimming pool. When government officials told us that this should not be done, we dug it up again and built a fence around it.’’

Natwarsinh Chavda, meanwhile, can’t understand why the village needs a pond in the first place: ‘‘Water is abundant here. When the scheme was mooted for the village, we had made a representation to taluk officials that if they wanted to make provisions for water conservation, simply deepen existing ponds instead of digging new ones.’’