Narmada Dam Project: The latest tool for BJP’s Gujarat campaign
Controversies surrounding the Narmada project have kept the political circles engaged in a war of words for nearly half a century—right from the laying of the foundation stone by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961, till 1987, when its construction work was stalled for the lack of environmental clearances. But it was under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, that all stumbling blocks were cleared and 90 percent of the work was given successive nods for completion.
After that, although the BJP was in power for nearly 22 years, the construction work remains incomplete till date. 43,000 Km of proposed canal networks are not completed. Further, the Narmada Dam project was intended to provide irrigation facilities for nearly 19 lakh hectares of land. But in real terms as far as the project’s status is concerned, it can only irrigate 3.70 lakh hectares of agricultural lands. The dam water has reached less than 12 percent of the total 17.92 lakh hectares of land.
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