Not only is the project aimed a bringing about a drastic change in the lifestyle of tribal people by making water more accessible, but it is also believed that it will contribute considerably to education of girls. Girl students tend to drop out of schools for two main reasons -- fetching water for the household and lack of toilet facilities on school campuses.

The project, which will cost the Government Rs 4 lakh, will rely on bore wells that will be operated on single phase motors to cater to populations of around 250 people each. Beginning December 1999, it will be taken up in Sabarkantha, Panchmahals, Valsad and parts of Kheda and Surat where the water table is high.

This was stated by irrigation secretary and chairman of Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board R K Tripathi at a conference `Vision 21 -- Global Consultation on Water Supply and Sanitation Services' this morning. Later, speaking to Express Newsline, Tripathi said he hoped the project would contribute to the education of girls. ``It will make water available for school toilets, one of the main reasons why girls leave school, and since time will not be wasted in fetching water from long distances, they can concentrate on studies,'' he said.

Some of the NGOs identified for the project include Tribhuvan Trust, Baroda Dairy, Surat Dairy, Sadguru Trust and the Anade Foundation. The project will be much more economical than a pipe water scheme. Cisterns of 10,000-litre capacity will be built for storing water which will then be available to tribals through a tap system, Tripathi informed.

Narmada and Major Irrigation Projects Minister Jay Narayan Vyas said 12.5 cusecs of Narmada water is released into the sea without any harnessing. He, however, added that the State would have to look at other means of water harvesting as well. ``Narmada has to be looked at along with other alternatives,'' he said, pointing that despite a broad-based view of Gujarat as an industrial state, the truth was that only about 12 per cent of the total area was under industrialisation and 35 per cent of the population still lived below the poverty line. The two-day conference has been organised by the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board and UNICEF, Gandhinagar.

Dharoi project by June
The fully computerised Dharoi project of Mehsana, the largest water supply system in the country, will be completed by June 2000 and is expected to start supplying water to Dharoi, Kheralu, Unjha, Wadnagar and Visnagar in the first phase, irrigation secretary R K Tripathi said. The Rs 200-crore project will be entirely computer-controlled, based on the SCADA system, to ensure equitable distribution of water to 550 villages in Mehsana and Patan districts, he said. ``The project will supply water to 11 sub-zones out of which three will be commissioned in April 2000, and after that one every 15 days,'' he said. When complete Dharoi will cater to the drinking water needs of around 25 lakh people.