PM Modi inaugurates Rs 12,000 crore irrigation project in Jamnagar

RAJKOT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of SAUNI ( Saurashtra Narmada Avataran for Irrigation) project in which nearly 10 dams and reservoirs of Rajkot, Jamnagar and Morbi would be filled up with the water of Narmada river.

The Rs 12,000 crore project is considered to be an ambitious one for Modi, who had announced the project in 2012 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, to fill up nearly 115 dams of Saurashtra region which faces shortage of water for irrigation and drinking.

"Nearly ten dams of three districts would be filled up with water from Narmada under the project at Aji-3 dam site," Rajkot district Collector Vikrant Pandey said.

BJP's Saurashtra-Kutch spokesperson and vice chairman of Yatradham Vikas Board, Rajubhai Dhruve, said with the implementation of the project, the Saurashtra region would witness green revolution.

"This would probably be the first project in the country to be announced and implemented within four years," Dhruve claimed.

"Narendrabhai had announced the project in September 2012 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, and after four years the first phase of the project is to be inaugurated by him," he said.

"Nearly 10,22,589 acres of farming land would get benefit by using the water from Narmada river for irrigation once the project would get completed," Dhruve added.