No one would have expected Liladhar Mistry — who lost the last Assembly poll from Anjar getting hardly 5,200 votes — to do this. But there he was, dancing atop one of the eight-foot support pillars of the pipeline bringing Narmada water to Kutch district. But Mistry was not embarrassed. There were several others like him, returning home after attending Kutchhotsava, organised to celebrate the arrival of the Narmada water.Though they were brought in hired trucks and vehicles to attend the function, the joy of the Kutchis knew no bounds as they drank Narmada water and splashed it on themselves. They carried home Narmada waterin jerrycans, plastic bottles and plastic bags. Those who didn’t have any container, simply drank as much water as possible. Modi promises Indus water next BHUJ: Gujarat CM Narendra Modi wants India to take up the matter of Kutch getting a share of Indus water when the PM holds talks with Pakistan. He also repeated his promise of bringing Indus water to this arid region. ‘‘I know your old demand. You will get not even a teaspoonful less. Besides Narmada, you will also get Indus water that now flows in Sind. This is your natural right. I have got examined documents pertaining to the 1927-1932 period and I have written a letter to Centre to take up the matter with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf when our PM holds talks with him,’’ Modi said. The CM said Indus water from Sind flowed up to the Indian observation post at Sardhar. ‘‘This water can be mixed with the Narmada water. The mixture would be a holy one. I will lay a pipeline in the prohibited areas of the Rann to bring this water,’’ he said. (ENS) Only 70 villages in three of the 10 far-flung talukas of the district received drinking water on Sunday, but the scale of the function and people’s expectations suggested otherwise.Gopal Ramji Patel of Baldia village, one of the 625 or more villages that have been promised drinking water over the next few months, was among those celebrating the event. Like hundreds of others he got down from his vehicle and filled Narmada waters in plastic bottles.Even at the venue of Kutchotsava, the moment Modi left hundreds of people rushed to the stage to get a closer look at the stream of water gushing out from a Lord Shankar idol. The arrangement to make the water fall on a tulsi plant had failed when Modi pressed the button, but after a while it did work. There was such a rush around the idol that organisers removed it to safety.
