Gujarat: Only 21.74 % water left in 203 dams

The Gujarat government has said all 203 small, medium and large dams in the state, including the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river, are now having 3,503.87 million cubic meters of water in them, which is just 21.74 per cent of their actual storage capacity.

Looking at the acute water crisis prevalent in various parts of the state due to deficient rainfall last year, the Gujarat government has announced to keep water in 56 dams reserved for providing drinking water to people, an official release said today. Till now, the government has declared 994 villages of parched Saurashtra and Kutch region as ‘partially scarcity- hit’.

According to Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, who heads a sub-committee of ministers for the assessment of scarcity, adequate measures are being taken to ease the sufferings of people.

The committee held a meeting at Gandhinagar to assess the water crisis and discuss steps to be taken by the government. The government said as many as 317 villages in 14 districts have been given water through tankers at present.