Gujarat’s water anarchy? 16.7% of Narmada water going to industry, 33% of targeted area irrigated: Govt insider.
The Narmada project is something that has always excited me, including how much water will be distributed and to which sector. A few days ago, when I was talking to a top Gujarat government insider, I was a little surprised when I was told that it is up to the “respective states to decide how much Narmada water they would distribute among various sectors” out of the total quota allocated to the four states—Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan—as per the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal award of 1979.
The “award” specified the quantum of utilizable water “at 75% dependability” to be shared as follows: Of the total water availability of 28 million acre-feet (MAF) from the Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh is supposed to get 18.25 MAF, followed by Gujarat with 9.00 MAF (mostly from the dam), Rajasthan with 0.50 MAF, and Maharashtra with 0.25 MAF.
Meant primarily as an irrigation project, this insider, who refused to be named, told me that it is up to Gujarat to decide how much of its 9 MAF quota of Narmada water it might want to allocate to the industry. “Can it be 70%?” I specifically asked. He replied that it is up to the state to decide; “the tribunal is silent on this.” The Narmada Control Authority (NCA), the inter-state body that monitors the flow of Narmada water, too, “has no say in this.”
