'Criminal negligence' of Modi Govt behind water problems: GPP

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Parivartan Party(GPP) on Monday alleged that Chief Minister Narendra Modi, by targeting the Centre over the Narmada Dam issue, was shielding his “criminal negligence” of the past 12 years in non-completion of canal construction works. “During BJP’s foundation Day function chief minister had claimed people are facing water problem because the Central Government had been refusing permission to build [caption id=“attachment_691107” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. AP[/caption] gates on Narmada Dam. This is a ploy to cover up his criminal negligence of not completing the construction work of Narmada canals for the past 12 years,” GPP General Secretary Gordhan Zadafia said while addressing the media in Ahmedabad. Since 2006, height of Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river has reached 121.92 meters and that was enough for the storage of water which could have been used for irrigation in 10 lakh hectares of agriculture land and to provide drinking water to 11,000 villages and cities, he said. “But because of criminal negligence of this Government people of Gujarat had been deprived of water for the past seven years. And to cover up his failure, chief minister is now blaming the Central Government.” The former minister alleged that since last September, the state government was aware of deficient rains in the monsoon season. Still, it did not devise a plan to avoid the water problem which people are now facing. “To give a strong voice to the people’s problems, GPP is going to launch a state-wide programme in the coming days,” Zadafia said. PTI