The ambitious Sauni Yojana created several minutes of heated arguments in the house. The Opposition pointed out that despite six years of the government proposing dams in the state will be filled with water under the scheme work has progressed at a snail's pace.
The Saurashtra-Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana (Sauni Yojana) was to create a network of 1,126 km long four link pipelines to divert overflowing flood water of Narmada to Saurashtra region. The excess water was to be distributed to the 115 reservoirs in eleven districts of Saurashtra. It was to benefit 10.22 lakh acre of land.
Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani said that the government had in 2013 announced that 115 dams in the state will be filled with water with the help of Sauni Yojana. "At that time the estimated expense of the project was Rs 10,000 crore. Today the cost has ballooned way beyond that yet the number of dams that have received water under the project is just 10," said Dhanani. He said that if work continued at this pace then the day will not be far when the overall cost of the project would be over Rs 2 lakh crore.
"Against a promise of 115 dams in a span of six years the government has managed to bring water to just 10 dams," said Dhanani. He said the government's own answer in the assembly to various questions regarding the project shows how it is being handled.
It should be noted that in a question by MLA Himmatsinh Patel from Bapunagar the government admitted that in the last two years the state had made payment of Rs 83.62 crore to the concerned company for laying of Narmada canal pipeline in Surendranagar district under the scheme despite such a pipeline having never been laid.
It also informed the house that the company concerned had been blacklisted and so far Rs 80.92 crore have been recovered. It also added that the concerned engineer has been suspended and in all actions have been taken against 19 employees. It further said that 10 agencies and three pipe suppliers have been blacklisted too.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that the remaining pipelines under the project will be completed in a span of a year, although in a similar question the state had mentioned that the third phase will take two years to be finished. He also reminded the house that Saurashtra has always been water-scarce region and at this time 70% of the region gets Narmada water for drinking.
CM Rupani said that remaining pipelines under the project will be completed within a year, although replying to a similar question the state had mentioned that the third phase will take two more years to be completed