Amreli, Aug 27 (IANS) Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Amit Shah, on Thursday recalled the long history of the Narmada project, saying its foundation stone was laid by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, while its gates were opened after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister.
Addressing the inauguration of the ‘Gujarat Gaurav Sarovar’ at Dudhala in Amreli district, Shah said the Narmada project had remained a long-standing undertaking before its water eventually reached large parts of Gujarat.
“The foundation stone of the Narmada project was laid by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964. I was also born in 1964. Its gates were opened when Narendra Bhai became Prime Minister,” Shah said.
He said Narmada water had subsequently been taken across Saurashtra and Kutch, up to Khavda. He also highlighted the ‘Sauni Yojana’, under which surplus Narmada water was channelled towards dams and rivers in Saurashtra.
Shah linked the state’s water conservation efforts to the reduction of drought conditions in Gujarat.
He recalled the drought years of 1985, 1986 and 1987, describing the water scarcity and relief works undertaken during that period.
“PM Modi, after becoming Chief Minister in 2001, initiated a series of water conservation and irrigation measures. In 2003, Narendra Modi worked to construct 1.5 lakh check dams in a single year,” he said.
Shah also referred to the construction and filling of thousands of lakes, the ‘Sujalam Sufalam Yojana’ in North Gujarat, drip and sprinkler irrigation systems and the Centre’s ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign.
He said the creation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti after Modi became Prime Minister gave greater institutional focus to water conservation. “Efforts were also made to improve irrigation capacity by removing bottlenecks in existing dams,” he said.
Turning to the Gujarat Gaurav Sarovar project, Shah said: “Founder of the Harikrishna Foundation, Savjibhai Dholakia, had told him two years ago about his plan to build a lake.”
He said he had now seen the completed work and praised the effort to conserve water. Shah said the 21-acre lake is 360 metres long, 260 metres wide and four metres deep.
He said Dholakia had told him that groundwater levels in the area had risen and wells had been revived following the water conservation work.
“Dholakia’s foundation had also contributed to the revival of the Gagadiya river and the construction of 208 lakes,” he said.
He expressed confidence that such initiatives would encourage collective efforts towards water conservation across Saurashtra and Gujarat.
“Those whom God has blessed will certainly come forward among the people to spend for saving water. They will also be inspired, and people will take forward collective water conservation works,” Shah said.
–IANS
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