The Gujarat government has said all 203 small, medium and large dams in the state, including the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river, are now having 3,503.87 million cubic metres of water, which is just 21.74 per cent of their actual storage capacity.
Looking at the acute water crisis prevalent in various parts of the State due to deficient rainfall last year, the Gujarat government has announced that water remaining in 56 dams would be reserved for providing drinking water to people, an official release said on Thursday.
Till now, the State government has declared 994 villages of the parched Saurashtra and Kutch region as ‘partially scarcity-hit’.
According to Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, who heads a sub-committee of Ministers for the assessment of scarcity, adequate measures are being taken to help the people.
Earlier on Thursday, the committee held a meeting at Gandhinagar to assess the water crisis. After the meeting, the government said as many as 317 villages in 14 districts had been given water through tankers at present. As the water crisis was expected to worsen in the coming days, another 468 villages would be get tanker supply, it added.
The government also announced that water supply through the Narmada canal network would be increased.
At present, 1,100 million litres per day water is being distributed through the Narmada canal network. Now, additional 900 MLD of water will be given. — PTI
