Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit out at the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and advised it to change its “anti-Gujarat mentality” for the overall benefit of the nation.
Mr. Modi claimed that the Centre provided 90 per cent grant to other States for irrigation projects if it were to cover arid zones, but the same criterion was not followed for Gujarat. Though the major part of the branch and sub-branch canals of the mega Narmada dam project would provide irrigation facilities to the arid lands, the Centre was not prepared to provide 90 per cent grants for the Narmada canals.
Amidst loud cheers from the crowd, he said the Centre's “double standards” against Gujarat were only because “you have voted Narendra Modi to power.” Even in according final approval for the construction of gates for the Sardar Sarovar dam, the Centre was showing “crookedness,” he alleged. “Sabotaging the progress of Gujarat will neither help the State nor the nation.” Mr. Modi was laying the foundation stone here for the construction of the 986-km-long Narmada branch canal and its sub-branch canals at a cost of over Rs. 712 crore to take the Narmada waters to the arid Kutch district and Patan and Banaskantha districts in north Gujarat.
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Mr. Modi said his government was committed to providing benefits to the common man and developing the State, and would never tolerate the “anti-Gujarat” elements. Whether or not the Centre was prepared to contribute its share, the State government was going the whole hog for the completion of the Narmada project at the earliest.
“We have seen the people in the arid zones clamouring for water and are eagerly waiting for the Narmada dam project. We will not disappoint them,” Mr. Modi said.