Gujarat polls: Will water woes drown Narendra Modi in Saurashtra?

Rajkot: The persistent water woes of Saurashtra, a scarcity-prone area of Gujarat, has become one of the main poll issues in the 2012 assembly elections in Rajkot as people are angry that virtually nothing has been done in the last ten years to resolve the problem permanently. Saurashtra, an area without a perennial river and having inverted pan topography, suffers from water scarcity as average rainfall is also very less.

"The government is not serious in addressing the core issue...there is severe problem of water for drinking and irrigation, in our region," Sendhabhai Mavadia, a farmer in Jetpur town of, Rajkot district, said. Many people in cities or in villages in the region agree that no government has brought a permanent solution to the water woes.

In all seven districts of Rajkot, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Amreli and Surendranagar, there is restricted supply of water. Residents in Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Surendranagar are getting water every alternate day and that too for 20-30 minutes.

Saurashtra, an area without a perennial river and having inverted pan topography, suffers from water scarcity.

The situation in smaller cities and villages is much worse. Gariadhar is getting water every third day, Sihor every second day and in Mahuva housewives have to keep every water storage utensil handy as they get drinking water supply only once in four days.

Saurashtra and Kutch consists of 54 assembly constituencies, out of total 182 in the state and is considered a key for any political outfit to form government in Gujarat.

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