CM opens Navada-Budhel pipeline, pump house(video)

Bhavnagar, 13 July, 2014

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today inaugurated a 77 km Narmada/Mahi river water oriented Navada-Budhel drinking water pipeline and pump house in Botad district near Barwala that will serve water to about 76 lakh people of Saurashtra through network of pipelines. The project has been completed at a cost of over Rs. 400 crores.

State Water supply minister Shri Babubhai Bokhiria in his speech said: During 1985 to 1995, the entire budget allocation for water supply was Rs. 1080 crore which comes to Rs. 72 crore per year. After Narendrabhai Modi became the Chief Minister in 2001, the allocation has been Rs. 17813 crore which comes to Rs. 1485 crore per year which is twenty time more than earlier governments.

Once we had water but not proper planning in place thanks to earlier governments.

Bokhiria further said: In Gujarat, 68% water is found in south and central Gujarat, 21% in Saurashtra and 11% in north Gujarat.

The state government has taken up the task to supply water to 9633 villages and 131 towns and Navada pumping station which supplies 120 crore liter water which means one liter to every citizen of this nation is part of this.

State government’s senior water supply department officer Rajiv Gupta said Navada is the place where water of two major rivers of Gujarat – Mahi and Narmada mix together.

In his speech Minister Saurabh Patel said drinking water and irrigation water both are important. He said saving each drip is important and therefore government has widened its target of coverage of area under drip irrigation and has also increased subsidy. Botad is number one taluka in terms of drip irrigation in Saurashtra and it is number two after Deesa in this aspect in entire state. As Botad is a small district, it should set target to cover entire area under drip irrigation.

Minister Babubhai has for the first time planned godowns in farms in budget. Under the scheme announced in budget, NABARD and state government both will provide assistance to farmers to build godown in their farm so that they can store their farm produce and sell it when there’s good price. Moreover Rs. 200 crore are allotted for storage of fertilizer at taluka and district level in size of total 1.2 lakh mt across the state in recent budget.

Sharing details of government’s scheme for women milk producers, Saurabh Patel said the state government will give 300 vaar plot and provide Rs. 5 lakh or 50% assistance to build a structure over it for milk producing activity. The government will also provide 80% assistance for purchase of tools like bulk milk cooler, automatic milking machine in limit of Rs. 9 lakh. For purchase of cattle women will be offered 5% interest assistance and if loan is paid timely additional 3% assistance will be offered. There’s also a provision of assistance for insurance premium upto Rs. 500.

Patel said when Anandiben came to power, the first task she did was announcement of Agriculture development year.

Saurabh Patel asked farmers present in the function to check, whether any other state in India has such a water grid that Gujarat has. He admired government’s achievement of supply of Narmada canal water to far flung areas like Junagadh. Patel said when water consumption increased, double lines were planned, that is the willingness of the government.

Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in her speech said the state government will connect all villages, towns and cities of Saurashtra to water grid.

“I have been guardian minister of Ahmedeabd district for many years and has visited many villages during that period.I remember the period of 1984-85-86 when Gujarat suffered drought continuously for three years. Narendra Modi was General Secretary of Gujarat BJP at that time and to meet the farmers he had organized Nyay Yatra. I joined Nyay Yatra as a common person. I joined because the area from where I come, water shortage was never felt. I was curious and I explored the areas of Ahmedabad district. I met women.I remember one house where I was offered water. Looking at its color, I thought it was not water but Sharbat. When I consumed, I realized, it was not Sharbat, but water.

Official note:

While dedicating Navada Pumping Station and Navada-Budhel Pipeline near Barvala in Botad, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel made an appeal to the people to use water according to the need with utmost thrift.

The Navada Pumping Station and Navda-Budhel Pipeline are constructed at the cost of Rs 400cr under Swarnim Gujarat Water Grid Yojana. The Chief Minister stated that more than 76 lakh people from about 2325 villages and 8 towns of Botad, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Rajkot, Junagadh and Gir-Somnath districts will be provided additional water supply through this pipeline to meet their needs of water.

On this occasion, Smt. Patel also described how the state has brought about a permanent solution to the water issues of Saurashtra-Kutch region by providing them 130cr litre water of Narmada under Swarnim Gujarat Water Grid Yojana. With this reference, she said that against 55-60 litre water which is being provided per person across the rural areas of the nation, Gujarat provides 100lt of it.

She made an appeal to the people to make the most of each drop of water and suggested to adopt drip irrigation method for farming. Considering the value of water more than gold, she appealed for water conservation.

Smt. Patel described how the present government has adopted various measures in the field of drinking water, electricity, education among others for inclusive development and now with an aim to make Gujarat a malnutrition-free State with the help of people’s participation, she asked the rural people involved in agriculture to join the same drive. She also came up with a new approach of, ‘No flowers but fruits’ while being welcomed.

Considering the excruciating situation faced by women due to lack of toilet facilities in both rural and urban slum areas, Smt. Patel made a call for ‘toilet in every house’ to uphold social status of women.

Water supply-irrigation Minister Babubhai Bokhiria encouraged women to play their roles in water distribution management. He also stated that the present government of Smt. Patel made a provision of Rs 3000cr for Saurashtra-Kutch waters in the recent budget which is almost 40 times more than what the Congress government had presented.

Finance Minister and district in-charge Saurabh Patel rejoiced over the fact that the areas of Bhavnagar-Botad- Somnath-Amreli will avail pure drinking water. He also gave details regarding the provisions for women empowerment in the recently-proposed budget.

Mr. Atmaram Parmar, MLAs from Bhavnagar-Botad, MPs, office bearers of boards-corporation, Taluka-district Panchayat Presidents, Bharatbhai Pandya and a large numbers of people were present on this occasion.