Gujarat Model fails to quench people’s thirst

According to reports, more than 20 districts are severely affected as towns and villages hardly get water twice a week

Hyderabad: The much hyped Gujarat Model in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s home State is struggling to provide safe drinking water to its people even though the BJP has been in power in the State for nearly three decades.

With rising mercury levels, Gujarat is facing a massive water crisis especially in the Saurashtra region, Kutch, North Gujarat and parts of tribal pockets in Central and South Gujarat. According to reports, more than 20 districts are severely affected as towns and villages hardly get water twice a week. In more than 500 villages in 14 districts, drinking water is being supplied through tankers.

---

Modi, during his tenure as Chief Minister of the State, promised to resolve drinking water issues, but even after 20 years, the problem is still continuing. In fact, about 50,000 women from 125 villages falling under North Gujarat’s Karmavad lake and Mukteshwar dam had sent postcards to Modi to remind him of his promise of providing drinking water.

During his 2002 election campaign in Kheralu village of Mehsana district, Modi had said: “Tum Ramila Ben ki jholi vote se bhar dho; Main tumhare Chimnabai Sarovar ko paani se bhar dunga…” (If you give votes to Ramila Ben (BJP candidate), I will fill Chimnabai Sarovar with water).

The filling of Chimnabai Sarovar is a promise repeated every election, but villagers are still waiting, even after 21 years.

There are also villages like Khoda of Banas Kantha district, where people are forced to consume unsafe water. Despite several representations, the State government has not been able to solve the issue.

On the other hand, there is the country’s youngest State of Telangana, where dried up lakes and waterbodies are history, with drinking water now reaching every household. And this did not take 20 years. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s focus on the irrigation sector, with masterpieces like the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, has resulted in almost every waterbody in the State having water in abundance, even in summer. All this, in a matter of less than nine years since formation of the State.

Even the Centre, where the BJP has been in the power for the same period of time, has acknowledged the success of water conservation measures by Telangana through schemes such as Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha.