On a lazy Sunday, 66-year-old Bhupatsinh Vaghela should ideally be resting on a cot under a shed. Instead, he is braving the scorching sun to get a motor fitted near his agricultural land in Sanand, near Ahmedabad, so that the standing crop gets some water.
This is his last-ditch attempt to save corn and wheat over 20 bighas of land. Even the water from puddles, from where he is to lift, is limited. “I am just hoping that I can manage to draw enough water to feed at least some bighas of land. I am staring at a loss of Rs 2 lakh,” Vaghela told THE WEEK.
With the Gujarat government having stopped Narmada waters for irrigation from March 15—citing less rainfall in Madhya Pradesh as the reason and the need to provide drinking water supply—at least 1 lakh farmers are staring at crop failure, leading to a cumulative loss that can run into crores of rupees.
Ironically, the multi-crore Sardar Sarovar project, which saw many hurdles, including environmental, is dubbed as the lifeline of Gujarat.
What irks the farmers is that till last year-end, they had no inclination of such a situation and once the new year began, the government announced that it would not be giving water for the summer crop. Interestingly, by then, the Assembly elections were over and the BJP, which was on a sticky wicket, managed to hold on to power with 99 seats.
Even as the state faces a severe crisis for irrigation and for drinking water in hundreds of villages, the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress are engaged in a war of words over the Narmada.
Recently, an old tweet by Rajiv Satav, newly appointed Congress in-charge for Gujarat and Member of Parliament, created a controversy. In his tweet, Satav had expressed solidarity with Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar for her demand of rehabilitation for the displaced in Madhya Pradesh due to the Sardar Sarovar project.
The tweet was deleted, but the BJP accused the Congress of being pro-Patkar and anti-SSP. The Congress, on the other hand, held the BJP responsible for the incomplete canal network in Gujarat.
All this happened even when, in a first of sorts, the state government had asked the farmers not to sow summer crops, said Sagar Rabari, head of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj, which works for farmers' rights.
Alleging that it is a man-made crisis and the situation could have been averted, even if a benefit of doubt is given to the state government's claim of less rainfall in Madhya Pradesh, Rabari questioned as to why the state government did not initiate any action when it is normally clear by September-October about how good the monsoon has been.
After all this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Project to the nation in September, all the dam gates were opened on the occasion and the water was just wasted. That the canal network in Gujarat still remains incomplete is a different story altogether.
Farmer Bhupatsinh Vaghela on his land | Janak Patel
The Aji dam in Saurashtra was filled with Narmada waters when it would have been normally filled with rainwater, alleged Shaktisinh Gohil, national Congress spokesperson. He alleged that it was a “BJP-created crisis.” Monitoring points on the canal network have been done away with and there is no system of water auditing, he added.
On the last day of campaigning in the Assembly polls, Modi took off in a seaplane from the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Though official data is not available, sources said that more Narmada water was released in the river, which otherwise sees Narmada waters at the Sabarmati Riverfront.
According to Himanshu Thakker of the NGO South Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People, there is some shortage in rainfall but it is bigger mismanagement at political hands. Not even half of the command area has been developed and still the government is not able to provide water for irrigation, he questioned. Thakker felt it was ironical that this happened in a year when Gujarat witnessed floods.
It is not funny, said Jaydeep Thakor of Nasmed village in Kalol taluka of Ahmedabad district. “In the monsoon, so much water is released in the canals that the water overflows into our fields and the crops get spoilt.” Jaydeep, for one, has not been able to cultivate his one piece of land near the canal during summers.
There are many farmers in Nasmed who put motors in the village pond to feed their land through pipes as long as over 1km. Jaydeep does not do that. “It will be a costly proposition. I do not have my own motor,” he said. Luckily for him, in another property owned by him, there is a water source.
But 42-year-old Ramesh Thakor neither has a borewell nor can he afford to pump water from the pond. The result is that jowar on his two bighas of land is about to “get burnt” if he does not get water in another 10 days.
The story is similar in Surendranagar district also. “The prime minister talks about doubling the income of the farmers by 2022. I would request that at least we get the amount what we used to get earlier,” said an angry J. K. Patel, 40, of Methan village. Patel holds 55 bighas of land, but has been able to grow crops on only about 20 bighas.
According to Patel, in the event of crop failure, an average farmer will have to bear a loss of anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000 per acre.
Sources said that water sources in about 4,000 out of the 18,000 villages have gone dry.
As per the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award, Gujarat's share of water is 9 million acre feet (MAF). Gujarat's Chief Secretary J. N. Singh has stated on record that at a meeting of the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir Regulatory Committee, it was decided to allocate 4.71 MAF to Gujarat. The committee is part of the Narmada Control Authority that decides allocation of water to the riparian states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
As per the Tribunal's award, 7.94 MAF is to irrigate 18.45 lakh hectares of land. As per the government' own admission, only one-third of the command area has been developed.
According to Rabari, the water is still surplus after giving for industrial use and drinking water purpose, even though Gujarat received 4.71 MAF, as claimed by the state government. He wondered as to how the state government would handle the situation when the entire command area is developed.
Currently, the state government is drawing dead water from the dam for drinking water purposes and next year even if the monsoon is normal, the dam will fill rock bottom. In major cities, the drinking water supply has already been curtailed by few minutes and several areas of Gujarat have also been witnessing the groundwater levels going down, coupled with complaints of low water pressure in several housing societies.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya termed the Congress' allegations as baseless. “We gave the people water till we could. It was their demand that they get water,” he said, claiming that the BJP government would be able to handle the situation. Pandya said that his party's MLAs were holding meetings with the district administration to tide over the water crisis.
Notwithstanding any assurances, the GKS is all set to give memoranda at various district headquarters. Among its demands are giving details about the water distribution, buying crops at minimum support prices and providing adequate crop insurance for the farmers.
Rabari fears a rise in prices of fodder for the cattle as the crops fail and migration to cities in search of jobs. Kanubhai Rabari of Nasmed village said that if his crops, planted for the cattle, fail, he would have to buy from outside.
“We (farmers) benefit only if we sell our land. Have you ever heard of any farmer prospering by selling crops,” asked Jaydeep. In the event of crop failure, farmers manage to hold on as they also do odd jobs and have few cattle, Jaydeep said. He added in the same breath that the farmers desperately need water. “Will we get it?” he asked.
Ahmedabad-based economist Jaynarayan Vyas pointed out that this summer is to be difficult and acute water shortage is predicted. But, this according to him, would just be a warning symptom if Gujarat does not learn how to use water resources prudently. “The future is be absolutely bleak. Even districts may fight with districts and tehsils may fight with tehsils for sharing the constantly decreasing water resources,” he said.