Original English text
f i> | Se evs, Kies y Py my Thy
oat an wy Te
f = Laden |? Mamet | Ty 1TH “abe
© nerf eer Ataris Pun Hg Lm Ca Proj : ; ; 1b aH : , | ar
ce in pat | ae ee ne
The second alternative was lifting water from the i my eae Ho iy tow 2 TORY.
reservoir through pumping by laying down pipelines pig4 cy oes ii! i) at 2 tal, 1)
and constructing pumping stations at a cost of 3‘ i : f 44 sd
% 1,300 million*. For irrigating 18,000 ha we would i == % nan |
have required lifting 800 cusecs water at 55 m height { 1 - ona
for 80 days. This would have amounted to the use of d ae ae 75
2,000 MW power which in turn would have led to ®o4 ]
additional emission of 3.57 million tCO, every year, i | ; “—e
2
Considering very high carbon footprints, human i th ’
displacement and direct loss of forest lands, I decided } 2 =, : :
not to go in for these altematives. Instead, I chose to «i? fy> p
get an irrigation tunnel constructed at a cost of around 6 oP | |
& 558.40 million™. This water carrying tunnel is the R 2° \ \
firat of its kind in Gujarat and one of the very few i 4 !
existing in the country. With a length of 3,362 m, 6.60 } . }
m bed width and 6.60 m height, it has 800 cubic fect ane \ it ra
per second discharge capacity. By making this tunnel, | DANSE i} : ig
we would provide irrigation to 18,000 ha of land 1 4. H ye.
benefiting around 125,000 people at no extra & $3) 2 1 SS iw Was . +) d
submergence and no displacement of persons. We f FE Fe q | ty a ‘
would also be utilising only the surplus water from the § igre ge feb big . +t h
existing reservoir. As an additional advantage, the , aa can: \ *| ul
nearby wells, around 60 village tanks and 500 ime es yy x
checkdams are being interlinked for recharge with the Sor i eT | ;
canal work, providing irrigation in an additional area of =
2,000 ha. It has been a win-win situation since surplus ets 4
water in the existing reservoir has been diverted at - { :
minimum environmental and human costs. I treat this \ ‘ j Ore :
as a positive step in my search of better alternatives for M_b# _ ; ;
development of Gujarat. 5 qua alZl4, | \, ‘ :
Ge tk, jae
) aE | . 1 im
