SAURASHTRA: A SHARE OF THE NARMADA

For as long as one can remember, parched landscapes, bone-dry water taps and blistering heat have dominated the folklore of semi-arid Saurashtra. Even modern history remembers chief ministers—as recent as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Keshubhai Patel in 2000—who, burdened perpetually by drought-like situations in the region, sent goods trains filled with gallons of water to Rajkot for relief.

- Jumana Shah

Thousands have left in search of greener pastures over the years. In the past few decades, though, there have been flickers of hope—rainfall has increased by 12 per cent in the past 30 years, and small dams have facilitated rainwater harvesting. But the most promising element in the story has been the Saurashtra-Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (SAUNI) Yojana, a comprehensive water distribution project launched by the state government in 2012. On July 27 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two new sections of the programme.

The plan is ambitious. Under SAUNI, 8.25 lakh acres of land across 970-plus villages will get water for irrigation, and 31 cities will get drinking water benefits. The idea is to utilise the excess Narmada water that drains into the Arabian Sea after the Sardar Sarovar Dam fills up to capacity, and transfer it to Saurashtra through underground pipelines. As a link project, the Narmada water will be diverted to 115 reservoirs across 11 districts of Saurashtra. The reservoirs are connected to lakes and branch canals that run along farms, taking the river water to these regions. The packages 8 and 9 of Link-3 inaugurated by PM Modi last month-who has dubbed the project the 'lifeline of Saurashtra'-pass through the Morbi, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Porbandar and Dwarka districts. So far, the government claims, 95 per cent of the total 1,371-km pipeline work has been completed. Unlike the Narmada Dam Project for which land had to be acquired, SAUNI relies on laying pipelines under private farmlands.