Skip to main content

Where did 4.28 MAF Narmada water disappear after Dec 2017 assembly polls? Farmers' leader writes to CM

Counterview Desk
Sagar Rabari, general secretary, Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS), has in an open letter to chief minister Vijay Rupani, sought what he calls "transparent account of Narmada water", flowing from the Sardar Sarovar dam into the main canal, suggesting how it may have been misused for political ends during the December 2017 Gujarat state assembly elections.

Text of the letter:

Post-Assembly elections (2017) the issue of Narmada water grabbed peoples attention. Earlier the farmers were being confused by the allegations and counter-allegations on the issue of the dam height and gates. But now, despite the dam gates being in place when the Narmada water has not reached the fields the farmers are beginning to get an idea of the real picture. More so when on January 12, 2018 you advised the farmers not to sow the summer crop, the farmers were truly awakened. For that, many thanks.
At this state I specially wish to draw your attention to the Water Use Plan (guidelines and plan for the use of the water which the Government of Gujarat [GoG] has, from time to time, presented to the World Bank, the Supreme Court and the Government of India [GoI]) made for the water available from the Narmada river. The Plan clearly states two things:
1. The Water Use Plan includes the Narmada water as well as surface and groundwater use plan, and,
2. Any change in the planned use of the water will require the approval of the Gujarat Government without which no change can be made in this plan.
Point No 2: Non-agriculture Use of Water of this Plan states that:
"2.1: NWDT (Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal) considered a water need of 1.06 MAF (million acre feet) for domestic and other non-agricultural uses in Gujarat on full development. These uses include requirements for urban and rural areas mostly in the command but to some extent outside the command where other water supply possibilities did not exist.
"2.2: The total requirement for domestic, industrial and thermal power projects works out to 1.37 MAF including 0.48 MAF from outside sources as given in Table-1.
"2.3: Out of the total requirement of 1.37 MAF for non-agricultural use, 0.48 MAF is expected to be available from local sources while 0.14 MAF is expected from recharge drawls. The balance of 0.75 MAF will have to be met from the Narmada Canal System. Adding thereto losses in the system, the gross demand on the Narmada Canal System works out to around 1 MAF.
"2.5: There is no change in the Industrial Water Supply from the Project. The water usage plan, as such, remains unchanged. However, if surplus water, overflowing Sardar Sarovar Dam during monsoon, is available it was proposed to utilize such water, if feasible, for the Industrial Usage. However, it may be required to clarify in unambiguous terms that the industrial water usage from the Project remains unchanged."
Sagar Rabari
Now to the main issue of the account of water sought from the SSNNL and given by it.
In response to my Right to Information (RTI) application dated February 8, 2018, the public information officer (PIO) and deputy genral manager (Narmada) has, vide response (SSNNL/RTI/2018/26/Dam&Power), has informed me: The total quantum of water available to Gujarat State for the year 2017-18 was 4.80 MAF, of which 4.68 MAF was used up till February 2018.
In response to query No 3 of the said RTI, the executive engineer, Narmada Yojana and Main Canal Section No 2 (inward No:PB-3/RTI/Water/1094/ dated April 30, 2018), states:
"The quantum of water released between 1st July 2017 and 12 January 2018 is:
Irrigation: 297.8681 MCM (million cubic metre)
Drinking water: 197.1627 MCM
Industrial use: 011.8412 MCM
Total: 488.8721 MCM".
When we convert MCM to AF (acre feet), the total comes to 3,96,335.05583 AF (this is the figure till January 12, 2018, i.e. a total of 196 days).
Deducting 3,96,335 AF from 46,80,000 AF, then 42,83,665 AF, i.e. 4.28 MAF water should be available in the dam on January 13, 2018.
This means that:
1. The answers to the RTI queries are not truthful;
2. The water was used for political purposes, rather than the mandated uses; or,
3. There is massive corruption in the usage of the dam water.
The questions, doubts, apprehensions and suspicions arising in the minds of the farmers of Gujarat can only be allayed if you provide honest and truthful answers to the same.
We, the farmers, want to know, from you:
1. Who informed you that there is no water in the dam, if, on January 13, 2018, 4.28 MAF water was available in the dam?
2. On what basis or calculation did your advisor advise you to make the announcement to the farmers on not to saw summer crops?
3. If, however, there was really no water in the dam, then where did the 4.28 MAF water disappeared?
4. Will you order an inquiry into this anomaly? Can the GoG, considered to be among the best in digital India and e-governance, make arrangements to the daily usage of dam water on the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) and irrigation department websites?
5. If the information provided to me is false then can you order that I be provided fresh information in simple and easy-to-understand language? Alternatively, can you arrange a meeting of a responsible officer (Engineer) of SSNNL with the farmer leaders to explain the account of water usage?
I hope that you, an advocate of zero tolerance for corruption, will answer my questions honestly and truthfully. If we do not get truthful answers and/or if the officers are not ready to come and talk to farmers then how can farmers trust that GoG and SSNNL are honest and that their water is not being diverted elsewhere? How will they believe that the GoG is not a partner in the criminal misuse or stealth or diversion of the Narmada water?
I am sending a copy of this letter to the Chairman SSNNL for information. The entire Narmada scheme was for the farmers and the people of Gujarat and they have a right to know what is happening there. Hence I am also releasing it to the press for wider coverage.
Hoping for a fruitful answer from you.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

  By Rajiv Shah   This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.
1 comment
»

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan*  “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.
Post a Comment
»

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.
59 comments
»

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative   A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...
Post a Comment
»

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah  Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".
51 comments
»

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.
Post a Comment
»

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey*  ​In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.
Post a Comment
»

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

​ By Ram Puniyani  ​The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue. 
Post a Comment
»

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan*  A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .
Post a Comment
»