A WASTELAND OF THE NARMADA

The Little Rann of Kutch “becomes a sea”, causing eco havoc, as precious river water flows in unused

- By Jumana Shah in Surendranagar

HOW DID THE LITTLE RANN of Kutch, all 65 sq. km of it, turn into a salt lake filled with Narmada water? Swimming somewhere within that question is an old quandary: how to manage Narmada waters across the length and breadth of Gujarat. Answers exist, but only in theory. The result: for over a decade, an overrun of lakhs of litres of fresh water from Narmada canals, meant to irrigate farmlands in border villages, has been going waste, flowing into the desert-like Little Rann almost round the year.

In theory, the Narmada's use is bound by strict norms, each drop accounted for, with farmer-led Water Use Associations (WUAs) formally requisitioning the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) for the exact quantums they need. In practice, ad hocism flows unhindered. “On an average day, the local MLA or heavyweight will call an SSNNL officer and seek water for a few villages based on back-of-the-envelope estimates by farmers,” says environmentalist Rohit Prajapati, who has been named to a special committee set up by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on the directives of the Gujarat High Court. “The demands are invariably higher than what's needed, yet the engineers will simply comply. It's not a systematic, documented process.”