The Gujarat government on Saturday launched the fifth phase of its Sujalam Sufalam Jal Abhiyan, a water conservation campaign, from Kolavada village in Gandhinagar district.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel formally launched the project with the deepening of a lake in the village, with the State aiming to carry out around 13,000 water conservation works by May 31.
This year, the projects are estimated to increase the State's water storage capacity by 15,000 lakh cubic feet and provide more than 25 lakh mandays of employment to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) stated.
The projects include deepening of lakes, desilting of check dams and reservoirs, cleaning and revitalisation of monsoon rivers, repairing and construction of check dams, it said.
Since the campaign's inception in 2018, at least 21,402 lakes have been deepened and constructed, 1,204 check dams have been built and 50,353 km of canals and water streams have been cleaned, the release said.
"As a result, the total water storage capacity has increased by 61,781 lakh cubic feet and 156.93 lakh man-days employment was generated," it said.
The Chief Minister said the project is vital to make Gujarat self-reliant in terms of water conservation. The State government is constantly aware of water management plans to ensure that people don’t face water problems.
Mr. Patel also expressed his commitment to make tap water available to every household in the State by the end of the year.
