Gujarat villages face worst water crisis in 100 yrs

Gujarat villages face worst water crisis in 100 yrs
DARSHAN DESAI

GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 12: In a fortnight from now, not a single drop of water will be available from the existing water sources in the parched areas of Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat. The first scorching summer of the new millennium is set to prove the worst in 100 years, with 6,312 villages, 69 towns and three cities in 16 districts of Gujarat reeling under a water crisis.

Summer has just set in but 104 out of 143 dams in Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat, which account for 13 out of the 16 districts facing a scarcity, are already dry. The other 39 dams have water to last for just a fortnight even as the state government has put into place a Rs 311-crore water supply master plan to drill borewells, deepen existing wells, revamp the water supply schemes and run tankers.

Thousands of cattle heads from different corners of the drought-infested villages have migrated to various places and the exodus continues. While scores of animals have died, cattle pounds in Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat are overflowing with half-dead animals. The state government has stocked as much as 77 lakh kg of fodder at over 205 depots but the migration continues, amidst complaints of inefficient distribution.

Ninety-one dams from 113 small and medium ones in Saurashtra, 10 from 20 in Kutch and three from 10 in North Gujarat have no water. Against their storage capacity of 2,229 million cubic metres (mcm), Saurashtra's dams have about 78 mcm at present, Kutch has 28.91 mcm and North Gujarat has 100 mcm. Water supply department sources said the water would last only for a few days.

Water is supplied in Rajkot every alternate day, while in Gondal it is once in four days. Jetpur gets it after every three days, Dhoraji every two days, Surendranagar every three days and Morbi every alternate day. According to Water Supply Minister Narottam Patel, there are 2,100 villages which do not have even any groundwater left and are supplied water through tankers.

Patel said the water supply masterplan is being implemented by the state government on a war-footing with scores of new borewells being drilled, pipelines laid from them, hand-pumps being installed and water supply schemes being revamped and repaired in all the scarcity-hit areas. Even as the local administrations review their performance on a daily basis, an overall review is conducted by the water supply department with an exhaustive weekly report.

Water Supply Secretary R K Tripathi admitted, ``This is the worst crisis of the century.'' But, he said, with timely action his department was able to prevent the situation from worsening. Tripathi said crisis supply was being maintained in major urban centres of Saurashtra but conceded that there was a shortage with most of the dams having dried up.

Asked about complaints of inadequate water, he said his department supplies water and the local self-governments handle distribution. S.Jagadeesan, the guardian secretary recently appointed to oversee water distribution for Rajkot district, admitted there was a problem with every ward asking for more with their councillors exerting pressure on the administration.

But since Jagadeesan, a veritable expert on Rajkot, has taken over, the scene is undergoing a change. He told The Indian Express that there was an improvement with the water supply department maintaining the supply and he having introduced discipline in distribution. Water time schedules would now be telecast by cable TV operators in order to ensure each ward got its due share. Till now, sources say, the entire distribution network in Rajkot was dominated by municipal councillors gearing up for the municipal elections due in June. This is now changing. Perhaps, with such measures on a larger scale the battle for water this summer in this part of India can be joined.