The decision of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) authorities to release water in the main canal has brought a wave of jubilation in water-starved Barmer and Jhalore districts in Rajasthan. The water is expected to enter Rajasthan through Silu village in Jhalore in the next 10 days.

“The water has already covered 369 km of the 458-km-long main canal and is expected to reach Silu by March 17 or 18,” said S N Thanvi, Principal Secretary, Water Resources and Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP).

The news has brought a stream of hope for the Rajasthan Authorities and the residents that there won’t be any drinking water crisis this summer. The state authorities are keen to start providing drinking water to the 1,107 villages in Jhalore and Barmer as soon as possible. This would benefit more than 13 lakh people.

“The Narmada water is arriving just at the right time, the onset of summer. Drinking water would come as a boon to these desert districts and also help raise the ground water level,” said Thanvi.

The water has already reached Tharva, a village in Gujarat. Thanvi along with the State Irrigation Minister Sawarlal Jat and other state authorities inspected the areas on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border on Thursday. He said that the SSNNL authorities were monitoring the flow of water in the Narmada Main Canal and the Rajasthan Authorities are in constant touch with them.

“The work on siphons on the Khari, Saraswati and Banas rivers is on and would take another eight months to get completed. However, the authorities have laid pipelines by-passing these siphons, through which we would get water,” explained Thanvi.

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