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dam-l LS: Experts blame Gujarat authorities for water mismanagement
I thought this may be of interest to those who have Gujarat's interests at
heart.
Experts blame Gujarat authorities for water mismanagement
by Batuk Vora, India Abroad News Service
Ghogha (Saurashtra), Apr 28 - Even as Gujarat reels under a grave water
crisis, experts blame the authorities for extreme mismanagement of the
precious liquid in a state that suffers from highly unequal water
distribution.
More than 1,000 women, carrying empty vessels on their heads, laid siege to
the district administrative council president's office this week,
protesting the acute shortage of water in this small Gujarat town.
Almost 3,000 people marched to the municipal corporation office on the same
day at Bhavnagar and demanded supersession of the corporation due to its
failure to provide regular water supply to its 300,000 odd citizens.
Similar incidents have been reported from almost 17 districts of the
Saurashtra, Kutch and north Gujarat regions where 79 cities and 9,435
villages are reeling under severe water scarcity. Most highways and
interior roads are full of private or government water tankers.
Mahendra Shah, president of the Small Industries Association of Bhavnagar,
said industries were facing a severe crisis as they had to buy water from
tankers carrying 5,000 litres of the liquid by paying up to Rs 600, whereas
till last year, it used to cost Rs. 150.
Ghogha's womenfolk said they were having to buy a pot of water for Rs. 2
daily. "All our 15 tanks and pipeline that used to bring water earlier are
lying empty," some said.
Vidyut Joshi, a well-known water expert who is a former vice chancellor of
Bhavnagar University and was once an active associate of the Saradar
Sarovar Project of the Narmada Corporation, said, "The 'water famine' in
Gujarat is a misnomer. In reality, this is a classic case of failed
sustainable water management exposed during the Congress as well as
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule year after year. Gujarat has had no water
policy as such."
Joshi said: "Figures of last 100 years indicate the same amount of average
rainfall. There is an average of 900 mm of rainfall in Gujarat but it must
be admitted that the pattern of rainfall is highly erratic. There is only
16 days of effective rain fall in the state. A water grid scheme to bring
Gujarat river waters to Saurashtra and Kutch have remained on paper for 39
years."
Joshi said 44 per cent of Gujarat's land mass in the central and southern
areas of the state enjoy 80 per cent of the available water while 31 per
cent of the landmass in Saurashtra gets only 17 per cent and Kutch,
occupying 25 per cent of land mass, gets only 2.45 per cent.
Irrigation caters to only 23 acres out of every 100 acres of land in
Gujarat. This is dismal compared to the corresponding figure of 88 acres
for Punjab and 66 acres for Haryana. The national average for irrigated
land is 45 acres. Even if the Narmada river scheme is fully implemented,
Joshi says no more than 56 per cent of the state's total land mass would be
irrigated.
"The problem is that we suck out all the underground water. Northern
Gujarat tubewells give water only after you dig 1,200 feet! This water is
10,000-20,000 years old and people have fallen victim to a disease called
fluorosis both in northern Gujarat and in the Amreli district (because of
too much fluoride in ground water). There are such 25,000 tubewells in
Mehsana district. All this underground water is going to get finished off
within the next 10 years."
Several other water experts also voice the same opinion. Shamjibhai Antala,
who initiated the recharging of 300,000 tubewells in Saurashtra, said, "The
large number of chemical industries in the state consume lots of drinking
water without paying the right price. New lifestyles in urban areas take
away a lot of water and new methods of agriculture. The Lok Van hybrid
seeds of wheat for example consume more water than necessary."
While people's movements for water conservation by digging lakes and
constructing check dams across Gujarat started some time ago, the
government stepped in much later and now contributes 60 per cent of the
cost of such check dams.