Gandhinagar, : In order to provide irrigation water to the parched land of Kutch and Saurashtra, the Gujarat government has launched Rs 495 crore project for lifting Narmada waters to 71 meter heights.

According to a release issued by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited here today, the state government aims to provide Narmada waters to the areas hit by water scarcity by 2010. The project that concerns the lifting of Narmada water will be accomplished by 2007.It will provide water to 5.24 lakh hectares of land in 90 cities and 4,877 villages of Kutch and Saurashtra.

Narmada water can reach through natural gravity only till Dhanki village of Lakhtar taluka. After that it has to be lifted in order to take it further. Pumping stations will be installed at Lilapur, Lakhtar, Bala, Rajpur and Dhudhrej. The entire project is slated to be accomplished by June 2007.

There will be 16 pumps installed at Dhanki pumping station through which 300 cubic meter water can be lifted to 10.86 meter of height non stop for 25,000 hours without any interruption, the release added.

Courtesy: NewKerala.com - Ernakulam,Kerala,India