Nearly 21,000 km of Narmada canal works, ranging from branch canals to sub-minors, are yet to be completed, the state government said in the assembly on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who holds the Narmada portfolio, said in a written reply in the House that construction of 2,601 km of branch canals has been completed, while work related to 129.4 km is pending as of December 31, 2017.
Similarly, construction of 383 km of distributaries, 2,898 km of minor canals and 17,540 km of sub-minor canals is yet to be completed.
The length of Narmada canal network is envisaged at 71,746 km (which would finally be around 69,000 km due to reasons such as farmers' opposition, urbanisation, de-command, among others). Of this, 50,795 km canal network is already in place, while 20,951 km remains to be built, government's reply showed.
"The work related to the construction of the canal network is planned to be completed at the earliest," the reply said without specifying any date for completion of the work. Till November 2017, 100% work of the main canal, 95% length of branch canal, 91% of distributaries, 81% of minors and 63% of sub-minors have been completed, as per the Socio-Economic Review 2017-18.
The completion of the canal network is important for benefits of Narmada Dam to reach the targeted beneficiaries.
While the height of the dam has been raised to 138.68 metre, there is a long way to go to achieve full irrigation potential of the project.
