TNN | May 12, 2013, 11.12 PM IST
VADODARA: The Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has demanded that Gujarat be declared drought affected and has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the drought-affected areas of Gujarat.
In its memorandum to the PM, SUCI has said that while the Central government has identified 10,000 villages out of 18,000 villages of Gujarat in 17 districts as drought prone, the Gujarat government has declared only 4,000 villages of ten districts as scarcity-hit areas.
Dwarikanath Rath, secretary of the Gujarat state organizing committee of SUCI (communist) on Sunday told media persons that the body had recently sent a team to make a survey of the situation of water in various regions of Gujarat.
SUCI's teams had visited Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar cities apart from Jasdan, Padadhari, Lodhika, Kotada Sangani and Gondal talukas of Rajkot district, Kalavad and Dhrol talukas of Jamnagar district, Savarkundala, Amreli town as well as Sayla and Wadhwan talukas of Surendranagar districts.
"Most of the regions visited including cities, towns and villages are uniformly facing acute drinking water crisis. The water supply from Narmada canal is insufficient, irregular and indefinite.
Commercialization of water is rampant in drought affected regions which causes rise in monthly budget of around Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per family while some regions are not getting water supply from Narmada at all," said Rath.
In some gram panchayats Narmada water supply has been discontinued or threatened to be discontinued owing to big pending bill amounting up to Rs 12 lakhs. Water level has significantly deepened where boring is the only source while the number of tankers sent to no source villages is much less.
Rath said that relief work has begun nowhere, neither has the state government made any arrangement of drinking water or fodder for cattle.
"The government has neither declared subsidies for panjrapoles nor started grass depot or cattle shelters," he said.
"Narmada Dam project was originally meant for drinking water and irrigation but water is being supplied to industries neglecting the people of drought prone areas. The existing water level in Narmada Dam is sufficient to supply the water to drought affected areas. But Centre versus state is taking toll of people and cattle of drought affected areas. Moreover, 70 per cent of Narmada canal work is yet to be completed," SUCI has said in its representation to the PM.
The body has demanded short term measures like starting a water train to the drought affected areas, starting MNREGA works and sending fodders from other states through transportation