Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Vijaybhai Rupani today instructed the state water resources department to complete the phase-2 works of the Saurashtra-Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana (Sauni Yojana), which has an objective to meet the drinking water requirements of Saurashtra and Kutch regions with Narmada waters, before the next Independence Day, August 15.

In Gandhinagar today, the Chief Minister had held a high-level review meeting with senior officials to review the progress made in the works of Sauni Yojana.

In the meeting, Rupani stated that the Sauni Yojana is a vital, engineering skilled scheme to fill 115 water reservoirs of Saurashtra-Kutch region to meet drinking and irrigation water needs of 737 villages of 11 districts and 31 cities with Narmada waters.

The completion of the first phase of the scheme provides water to as many as 16 dams. And, now the work of second phase to fill the 57 water reservoirs through laying pipeline networks of 541 km is almost on the verge of completion.

In this reference, Rupani stated that the department should be prepared with a time bound planning to complete the entire works of all the four links of the second phase before August 15, 2020.

He also pointed out that since British era many water reservoirs and small dams of the Saurashtra-Kutch region are devoid of waters. Therefore it is very essential that these water reservoirs be filled with Narmada water on priority basis.

Giving detail information about the third phase of the Sauni Yojana, the Chief Minister said that in the third-phase as many as 42 water reservoirs would be filled with Narmada waters through laying three-links pipeline network of 457 km by March, 2021. For this, manufacturing of 63 % of required pipelines (means 288 km of pipelines) has already been completed, he added.

So far, under the Sauni Yojana as many as Rs. 14,707-crore have been spent for four links of all the three phases. Of it, Rs. 6,854-crore were spent on the first phase. While the second phase is almost on the verge of completion with an expenditure of Rs. 6,973-crore; a detail review of it was held.

– Information