The water patrol

It has been a little over two months since Baria and 700 others became part of the new force that was carved out of the State Reserve Police SRP on February 1. He is now on the payroll of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited SSNNL,a state government undertaking that operates and maintains the Narmada dam and canals.

After a half-hour ride in the bus,Baria and his colleague,also Dinesh Baria,25,are dropped at a checkpost.

Both the jawans have more in common than their names. They both come from Panchmahals district. My family is in Godhra. I visited them last year and now I plan to take a week-long leave before monsoon, he says.

The checkpost is at the zero point of the Narmada main canalthe point from where the canal originates before covering a distance of 534 kilometres through Gujarat and Rajasthan. Barias duty is to keep a close watch on the movement of vehicles and people entering the dam site and also to instruct farmers from the nearby Bhumalia village to not use generators to draw water from the main canal.

A car approaches the checkpost and Baria waves it down. The younger Dinesh Baria collects a pass from the driver,notes down the name of the driver and the cars registration number,and signals the driver through. Most of the vehicles belong to tourists who visit the dam site. The place is isolated,surrounded by forest. Few villagers ever come here, Baria says.

Since he first joined SRP in 2008,he has been posted at Ahmedabad,Vadodara,Somnath,Surat,Dahod,and a number of other places,where he has guarded government buildings,institutions,and bungalows of IAS officers and judges. In the two months that he has been with the Narmada Battalion,Baria has been posted at three points along the Narmada dam. He has also been on night duty,with some eerie moments thrown in.

One night we spotted a black moving object in a dark corner. It was a sloth bear,which is found in this area. We also once spotted a crocodile slithering up a hillock close to the canal. Snakes are common,too,and they have already encountered quite a few in the last few days that they have been posted here.

Under the shade where the duo stand guard are a few books and newspapers,which they occasionally read. A book titled Zindagi Jivo,Birbal Buddhi Thi Live With Birbals Intelligence is Barias favourite. I am yet to finish it,though.

In the next one hour,they check three tourist cars,before a patrolling jeep arrives. The jawans greet the Narmada Battalion officer as he steps out with a notebook in his hand. The officer takes down some notes,gets back into the jeep and speeds off.

With summer intensifying,Baria says their primary role will be to guard the zero point of the canal and check if farmers are using generator sets to draw water.

Recently,DySP KL Makwana conduced a surprise raid along the canal route and warned farmers of Bhumalia of stern action if they continued drawing water illegally. As the summer gets worse,we will then have to increase vigil to prevent farmers from drawing water illegally, he says. Farmers could be jailed and penalised if caught doing so. But since the Battalion is still new,farmers are being let off with warnings.

At 8 pm,after eight hours of duty,Barias shift draws to a close. He collects the newspapers and books strewn around him in a polythene bag. A bus arrives with jawans on the 8 pm-8 am shift. Baria and the others will be dropped back to the headquarters.