Over 10,000 km of Narmada canals yet to be built: Govt

Questions related to completion of Narmada canal work raised heat in the Assembly on Friday with Deputy CM Nitin Patel, at one point, shouting at the Opposition MLAs for questioning the intent of the state government over land acquisition for the purpose.

In his written reply, Patel who also handles the Narmada portfolio admitted that out of the total approved length of around 71,200 km, canals with a cumulative length of 10,795.81 km were yet to be built.

While the main canal of 458-km length was already completed, 110.98 km of branch canals, 209.82 km of distributaries, 1,691.44 km of minor canals and 8,783.57 km of sub-minor canals were yet to be built across the state, Patel said in his reply.

When the Congress legislators questioned him about the delay in the project, Patel told the House that the canals would be completed at the earliest, subject to granting of permissions by various departments, as they passed through forests, sanctuaries and private lands.

During the discussion going on during the question hour, Patel lost his cool when Lathi MLA Virji Thummar asked, “Why is land acquisition for remaining canal work not done despite the BJP ruling the state for 24 years? Is it intentional?” An agitated Patel replied, “You better keep quiet until I finish my response.”

Answering Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani’s query about total command area where Narmada water has reached, Patel said out of projected 18.54 lakh hectare water has reached 16.51 lakh hectare. Dhanani challenged the reply saying, “According to the recent economic and social survey, the command area is only 6 lakh hectare.” The discussion ended with the Speaker instructing the House to move to the next question.

Cong MLAs makes videos, threaten babus: BJP

Nitin Patel also intervened when Congress’ Vansda MLA Anant Patel raised the issue of poor quality of food served under the mid-day meal scheme in his constituency. When Anant Patel named the agency contracted for supplying the food, he was asked to not name it.

At this point, BJP’s Gandevi MLA Naresh Patel alleged “some of the MLAs get their videos viral and threaten government officials and agencies”. Nitin Patel intervened by saying, “Recording video in the Assembly and misusing it for threatening officials or circulating it on social media cannot be allowed.” Speaker then took serious note of the same.