Gandhinagar, July 4: Gujarat has succeeded in creating additional water storage capacity of 11,523 lakh cubic feet in the state this year while completing the seventh edition of its ambitious water conservation campaign Sujalam Sufalam Jal Abhiyan (SSJA).
This year, under the Jal Abhiyan, 2831 lakh cubic feet additional water storage capacity has been created in North Gujarat, 4946 lakh cubic feet in Central Gujarat, 1046 lakh cubic feet in South Gujarat and 2700 lakh cubic feet in Saurashtra-Kutch region.
This special initiative of the Gujarat government involves coordination of departments like Water Resources, Water Distribution, Forest and Environment, Urban Development and Municipal Corporation, Narmada Corporation, Education Department and Panchayat and Rural Development along with huge public participation.
The Gujarat government has been running this campaign for the last 7 years with the aim of conserving rainwater as much as possible in the large and small water bodies present in Gujarat. The result of this is that the water storage capacity in Gujarat has increased by more than 1,19,144 lakh cubic feet in all the seven editions so far.
Giving detailed information about the works done under the seventh edition of SSJA, Secretary of Water Resources Department KB Rabaria said that this campaign of SSJA has been very successful this year too. This year 9374 works have been completed under SSJA, in which more than 4 thousand works have been done under public participation, more than 1900 under MNREGA and more than 3,300 works have been completed by different departments of the state government.
During this period, 7.23 lakh man-days of manpower have been generated and this year the water storage capacity of the state will increase by 11,523 lakh cubic feet. KB Rabaria said that the top 5 districts where the maximum work has been done this year include Dahod with 1254 works, Gir Somnath with 848 works, Anand with 679 works, Mahisagar with 648 works and Aravalli district with 617 works.
Along with cleaning and repairing of different types of water bodies like small rivers, ponds, check dams present in the state, 815 km long major canal and 1755 km minor canal of the entire state have also been cleaned.
The broad objective of this effort is to change the arid landscape of the state. This comprehensive campaign focuses on increasing the groundwater level, cleaning water bodies and reviving traditional water resources to ensure safe and adequate water supply for agricultural, industrial and domestic needs. By using community participation and leveraging modern technology, the Sujalam Sufalam Jal Abhiyan not only addresses immediate water scarcity issues but also paves the way for long-term ecological balance and prosperity in Gujarat.
