THE GUJARAT MODEL

The state’s turnaround from acute scarcity to water adequacy in just two decades wasn’t just due to the Narmada canal, it also took visionary leadership

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

The 458-km-long Narmada canal snakes its way through south and central Gujarat like a green highway. Not far from Gandhinagar, the state capital, a branch of the canal takes water to Dhanki, a massive pumping station, located in the dusty plains of the region. From there, the first of an incredible series of water-lifting operations takes place to ensure that the canal waters reach the drought-prone Saurashtra region which earlier got only 17 per cent of the total water in the state. That was because, as state principal secretary (water) Dhananjay Dwivedi explains, “Saurashtra is shaped like an inverted saucer and the canal water has to be pumped up a steep gradient of 69 metres or the height of a 23-storey building so that it reaches every part of the region.” Similarly, branch canals take water to the deserts of Kutch and the dry lands of north Gujarat. In just two decades, the Narmada canal waters have transformed the entire landscape and the lives of the people of the state.