More than 20 districts are reported to be badly affected, with towns and villages barely getting water twice a week
Release Date – 07:00 AM, Thu – 11 May 23
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Hyderabad: Even though the BJP has ruled the state for nearly three decades, the much-hyped Gujarat model in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state is still struggling to provide its people with safe drinking water.
With rising mercury levels, Gujarat is facing a severe water crisis especially in the Saurashtra district, Kutch, northern Gujarat and some tribal areas of central and southern Gujarat. More than 20 districts are reported to be severely affected, with towns and villages barely getting water twice a week. In more than 500 villages in 14 districts, drinking water is being supplied by tanker trucks.
Modi promised to solve the drinking water problem during his tenure as the country’s chief minister, but even after 20 years, the problem still exists. In fact, some 50,000 women from 125 villages under the Karmavad Lake and Mukteshwar dams in North Gujarat sent postcards to Modi reminding him of his pledge to provide drinking water.
In 2002, Modi campaigned in Kheralu village, Mehsana district, saying: “Tum Ramila Ben ki jholi vote se bhar dho; Main tumhare Chimnabai Sarovar ko paani se bhar dunga…” (if you vote for Ramila Ben (BJP candidate people), I will fill the Chimnabai Sarovar with water).
Filling up Chimnabai Sarovar is a promise repeated every election, yet villagers are still waiting, even after 21 years.
There are also villages like Khoda in Banas Kantha district where people are forced to drink unsafe water. Despite repeated representations, the state government has failed to resolve the issue.
On the other hand, there is Telangana, the youngest state in the country, where lakes and water bodies have dried up as a history and every household now has drinking water. And it didn’t take 20 years. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s focus on the irrigation sector, and masterpieces like the Kaleshwaram Water Lifting Irrigation Project, has resulted in ample water in almost every water body in the state, even in summer. All of this happened in less than nine years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Even the center of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was in power during the same period, has acknowledged the success of Telangana’s water conservation measures through programs such as Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha.
