Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made an impassioned appeal to people to save water the way they would save their blood, as water is the most important source of life.
Dedicating to the nation a ₹1,480-crore water pumping station for the Narmada Branch Canal near Bhachau town of Kutch district, he said water has always been a major challenge for Kutchi people.
“Wherever they settled, they always celebrated any rainfall in Kutch, which has been traditionally water-deficient,” he said. The station will lift the Narmada water to a height of 18 metres before its redistribution.
The Narmada waters will irrigate 2.78 lakh acres of land in 182 villages and provide drinking water to 877 villages and 14 towns in Kutch district.
Modi recalled how a Jain saint, Buddhisagarji Maharaj, concerned at wastage, had predicted that water would be sold in grocery shops in the future. “This has come true. We now buy bottled water,” the PM said.
He also recalled how the revered Mekran Dada had prophesied that major rivers like Narmada, Indus and Saraswati would once again be linked in Kutch district.
Earlier, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani accused the Congress of creating obstacles in the successful completion of Narmada projects. He said the State sovernment completed the 40-km-long Narmada Branch Canal in just eight months, adding it will provide water to 40 reservoirs.
The PM, who arrived on a two-day visit to Gujarat today, will inaugurate the Annual Meeting of African Development Bank in Gandhinagar tomorrow.