21-Mt-Wide Breach Swamps 8 Mehsana Villages With Waist-Deep Water

Vijaysinh Parmar & Paul John TNN
Sujatpura (Mehsana): It was a rude shock to 1,500 villagers of Sujatpura in Kadi taluka on Wednesday morning when farmers who were busy with their chores realized that the Narmada-Kutch main canal running alongside this village had breached. The 21-metre breach is suspected to have been caused by an engineering fault and had affected at least eight villages. The villages remained submerged in waist-deep water from 7.30 am even as the monsoon is yet to hit these parts. At least 10 hutments collapsed, while the boundary wall of the local primary school broke because of the flooding. Farmers lost precious BT Cotton, bajra and jowar crops. Many farmers fear that they would not be able to sow as most of the farms lay waterlogged and monsoons would arrive in a few days’ time. District officials were busy trying to ensure that there is no disease outbreak. The entire village was evacuated by 10 am. By afternoon, area of nearly six kilometers around the breach was affected, submerging villages like Nani Kadi, Narsinhpura, Kaswa, Shedadi — all along the canal. “Generally, we sow after the first shower but this incident has worried us all as monsoons would arrive in three days and the fields will still be waterlogged,” says Rajesh Patel, a farmer. Villagers add that about 2,000 acres of farmland belonging to Sujatpura, Balasar and Ranchhodpura lies submerged for the moment. Sujatpura has a thriving dairy business with a buffalo population of more than 2,000. “We don’t know what we will feed our cattle as most of the fodder was washed away and district officials haven’t yet assured us aid for our cattle,” adds Most of the local village granaries have suffered as stocks have been washed away during the incident. “I lost 1,600 kg of wheat stored in my house. I don’t know how I’m going to pass this season without any earnings.” Narmada canal under scanner after breach: Panicking after the 21-metre-wide breach in the Narmada main canal near Kadi on Wednesday, Gujarat government has brought the entire 458 km-long canal, from Kevadia to Rajasthan, under the scanner. Government spokesperson, Jay Narayan Vyas said, “The state government has decided to carry out a technical survey of the entire canal by a high-level technical experts committee in order to ensure that such a breach does not take place in future.” The experts committee will look into the entire stretch after giving a report on how the breach took place near Kadi, while fixing responsibility. TNN CANAL CALAMITY Manmade Disaster Hit Kadi Village Following SSNNL Negligence Sujatpura (Mehsana): It’s no secret in Sujatpura village that Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) engineers and officials had come to inspect the leakage of the canal on Tuesday evening. Villagers had pressed the alarm bells and had requested the officers for an early redressal. But the engineers only returned on Wednesday morning when the canal lay split open with breach of 21 metre and a submerged Sujatpura. Villagers thank their stars as the breach did not happen in the night when the village was asleep.This could have claimed many lives. Rajesh Patel, a villager in Sujatpura, says, “A large group of villagers, especially those whose fields are along the canal had shown the SSNNL officers the minor leak as their fields were getting affected.But they assured us that it was a minor leak and would be plugged soon. But the officials never returned on Tuesday night.” Engineers present at the site claim that it will take at least one-and-a-half days to plug the breach with eight bulldozers being commissioned already to the site to work overtime to temporarily fill the breach. SSNNL engineers at the site suspect that the crevice between concrete slabs used for the canal lining cracked, exposed the earthen lining underneath. “The canal was channelling at 13 feet water for the last two days. It means that it was at least 75 per cent full. We suspect that the sheer force of the water flow ate away the mud underneath the concrete slabs and finally the concrete slabs without any support blew open in the morning,” says an SSNNL engineer at the site. SSNNL officials have already sent concrete and soil samples for tests to see the quality of material used for the construction of the canal lining. Ahmedabad fire brigade rushed with boats to the site for rescue operations. The head regulator of the canal was opened to reduce the water to at least three feet. “We had maintained a minimum of 8 to 10 feet water for the last 10 days as this canal carries water to Kutch. For the last two days the level was anywhere between 12 to 13 feet,” says an SSNNL engineer. Excess water had been diverted to the open fields in Balasar and surrounding villages. While any further flow was stalled at Karan Nagar where the canal is diverted to Kutch and Saurashtra canals.