Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the first of four phases of the Rs 12,166-crore Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Yojana (SAUNI) at the Aji-3 dam near Rajkot.

Phase-1 of the project has been developed at a cost of Rs 1,562 crore with 58 km of pipeline. It is aimed at benefiting 10 dams with 6,475 MCFT of water from the Narmada canal network. A total land area of 47,943 hectares in three districts - Jamnagar, Rajkot and Morbi - will be irrigated under the project. The drought-prone Saurashtra region of the state will get a dedicated water supply through the four link pipelines.

Inaugurating the SAUNI Yojana, Modi highlighted his government's pro-farmer measures that had helped improve urea availability and provide better crop insurance to the farmers.

Addressing a gathering of farmers and residents from several districts of Saurashtra, the Prime Minister recalled instances of black marketing of urea, and how the key farm input was illegally sold to chemical companies instead of for agriculture purpose.

"In my initial days (as PM) I received letters from chief ministers raising demands for urea. It would take years to set up the new manufacturing capacities. So we decided to plug the loop-holes and improved procedures to increase availability. This way we increased the urea output to 20 lakh tonnes," Modi said in his nearly 40-minute speech.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) scheme designed to provide crop insurance at a lower premium of 1.5-2 per cent and 5 per cent for horticulture crops.

"Under this scheme, farmers who can't take up sowing because of scanty rains, would also get compensation. Also, the damage caused to the harvested crop due to unexpected rains is covered," Modi said.

Modi said it was due to water management by farmers in Saurashtra that they could reap benefits with increased production of cotton (up by 370 per cent), groundnut (600 per cent) and wheat (30 per cent).

"Waters of Narmada will bring transformation to this region. This SAUNI scheme will further add to that transformation and farmers from this region will prosper," he said.

Modi termed the Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (SAUNI) Yojana an engineering and technological marvel for the challenges faced in laying the pipeline network. The pipeline supplies water from a lower geographical terrain to a higher one.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani termed the SAUNI Yojana a big step forward in the well-being of the farmers of Saurashtra. "With this scheme, drought crisis in agriculture will become history," he said in his address.

The state government will use the additional 43,500 million cubic feet of flood water from the Narmada river to supplement 115 existing dams in the region through the Narmada canal network. The region has 138 dams, most of which run dry soon after the monsoon, leading to a severe water shortage during the summer.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by Modi in 2012 during his tenure as state chief minister. The entire scheme is likely to benefit 10,22,589 acres in Saurashtra.

Also present at the inauguration were former chief minister Anandiben Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and state party chief Jitubhai Vaghani, besides a number of MLAs, MPs and local leaders. This was Modi's first public rally in the State after assuming office at South Block.

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