Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has once again written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the Sardar Sarovar Project should be given 90 per cent Central assistance under Desert Development Programme (DDP) for accelerated irrigation benefit to such areas.
Modi has said in the letter that the Union Cabinet has given approval to provide 90 per cent assistance to irrigation projects for Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) and Desert Development Programme (DDP) under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP). The letter said the main aim of Sardar Sarovar Project is to provide water security to drought-prone and desert areas in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
It said that out of the total command area of 18.45 lakh hectares for the irrigation from the Sardar Sarovar Project on the river Narmada, 5.08 lakh hectares falls in Drought Prone region and 8.73 lakh hectares falls in desert.
The Centre has cleared two projects of Punjab and one project of Karnataka, while the request of Gujarat to give similar benefits for Sardar Sarovar Project is pending with
the UPA government, the letter said. "So I once again request you that the Sardar Sarovar Project should be given 90 per cent central assistance under the Desert Development Programme (DDP) for Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP)," Modi said in the letter.
He has further said in the letter that if the benefit is given to Gujarat then it would help the state in building canal network for creating irrigation facilities in the
drought-prone and desert areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
"The implementation of the Sardar Sarovar Project will also ensure increase in farm production and all-round development of those areas, which is a goal of all of us," Modi said. The Gujarat strongman mentioned that he has written similar letter to the Prime Minister in January, May and June months of 2011.
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