Election year: Gujarat Government scraps important project to woo tribals

The Project was being opposed by the tribals of the area

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R In a bid to woo the tribals in the crucial election year, the Gujarat Government has announced to scrap its ambitious Par-Tapi-Narmada river-link Project, which was being opposed by the locals.

The Project was being opposed by the tribals of the area and Congress MLA from Vansda in South Gujarat was one of the prominent leaders of the protests.

On Saturday, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Gujarat BJP president C R Patil chose Surat to announce the decision. Patel addressing a press conference said that the project that was proposed in the Centre’s budget has been scrapped. The Gujarat Government too had allocated a budget for the Project.

Patel said that the tribals were upset because of the misunderstanding created among them. He said that the state government had not granted any approval to commence the project and it was decided not to go ahead with it. The Chief Minister said that the decision to scrap the project was taken in the meeting with the central ministers.

According to India Water Resources Information System, the Project had proposed to transfer water from the “water surplus regions” of the Western Ghats to Saurashtra and Kutch regions that are often rain deficit. It involved seven reservoirs in north Maharashtra and south Gujarat. It also had in its plan three diversion weirs, two tunnels, one nearly 400-kilometre-long canal, and six power houses among other things. This would have led to several pockets in South Gujarat getting submerged, leading to the displacement of inhabitants, the majority of them tribals.

Regardless of the state government’s decision, the Congress MLA said that the protests will continue and the scheduled protest rally of May 27 in Vansda will be as scheduled. He demanded a White Paper on the issue from the state government.

In recent months, Congress had also organized a protest rally in Gandhinagar. The rally was a grand success and had witnessed participation by independent MLA from Vadgam Jignesh Mevani and the then Congress working president of Gujarat unit Hardik Patel.

Out of the 182 assembly seats in Gujarat, 27 seats are reserved for the tribals and the Congress has 12 seats. In all, there are 40 seats in which tribal vote share becomes a decisive factor.