SSP: Dam Full, Canals Empty - Judge for yourself
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Fw: medha
narmada.org: Dam Full, Canals Empty - Judge for yourself
Dear friends,
NBA has been consistently upholding the position that the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam should not be raised until the rehabilitation of all the affected people is completed at the ground level. We were also stating that there was no necessity to raise the dam height as the canals to carry water are nowhere near completion. The government and some of the media are vehemently trying to justify the recent raising of the dam height from 110m to 121.92m (119m so far completed after which it was stopped) and its subsequent affirmation by the Supreme Court. Please read the following story appeared in Indian Express and judge for yourself whether NBA's position is vindicated or not.
Sardar Sarovar brimming over but delay in Canal works mean dry Gujarat gets just a trickle The Indian Express, Front Page Story, November 13, 2006
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/16525.html
The long wait for Narmada water has got longer for thousands of villages in Gujarat with the construction of branch and sub-branch canals delayed by a year or longer and distribution system not yet in place.
Except for Kutch, the Narmada dam's height is irrelevant now for other parts of the state as despite the water level at Sardar Sarovar dam being at 92 metres – the maximum height required to fulfil Gujarat's needs – only a trickle is being released into the Narmada main canal because there is no distribution network where the water is required.
And the canals are not going to be ready any time soon because work has just begun on a few or tenders have only recently been invited for others.
But in the face of all the delay, the deadlines set by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) reflect little urgency: "Work to begin in 2006-07 or tenders to be invited in 2007-08 or work to be completed in 2009-10."
SSNNL data show:
- Of the four major branches of the Narmada main canal, the most important one, the 104-km Saurashtra branch canal, is complete only for 70 km.
- Of the 360-km Kutch branch canal, work is in progress in 76-km length while work will be taken up on 284 km in a phased manner later and will be completed only in 2008-09.
- The only work done on the 118-km Vallabhipur sub-branch is the earthwork.
- Merely 74 km of 124-km Dhrangadhra sub-branch is complete till now.
- Work has stared in only 16 km of the 109-km Botad sub-branch canal and the remaining length will be taken up in 2006-07, and completed by 2008-09.
Construction at most of these projects has been delayed by at least one year in some cases and by more than two years in others, mainly due to slow progress of work. A heavy monsoon this year which damaged the lining of not only the canals under construction but also parts of the sub-branches which are ready, too has added to the tardiness.
PK Lahiri, chairman and managing director of SSNNL, admits that the work has been too slow. "Due to heavy monsoon this year, work could not go on at expected pace but we are late by six to eight months at the most," he said.
But two months after the monsoon season, work has not started on some parts of the incomplete canals. Chief engineer Brahma Kshatriya, in charge of the Rajkot division which supervises Saurashtra's sub-branch canals, said work is yet to start on Morbi, Limdi, Dhrangadhra and Botad sub-branch canals. "The work will be completed in one and half years," he said.
Meanwhile, to bypass the hold-up, the state government is laying lengthy pipelines, turning the canal-based project into a pipeline-based one. However, this alternative may not be feasible, said Prof Indira Hirway, director at Centre for Development Alternatives, Gandhi Labour Institute.
A study by the Ahmedabad-based centre has found that more than a 1,000 villages in Saurashtra which are at the far end of the pipelines do not receive Narmada water regularly. Listing several reasons in a report to be published shortly, the centre has suggested that the whole idea of supplying water through pipelines needs to be reassessed. "The water does not always reach the villages which require it the most. Breakages, leakages and lack of pressure result in villages at the far end of the pipelines hardly receiving any water at all," said Hirway.
Gujarat gets rattled at the mere mention of halting construction at Sardar Sarovar Dam. But today when the water level there is at its highest, only 3,200 cubic metres per second (cusecs) is being released though 10,000 to 15,000 cusecs can be released.
sreenivas.janyalaexpressindia.com
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