Pipelines for SAUNI to be laid from next month.

The laying of pipelines for the ambitious Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (SAUNI) scheme launched by former chief minister and present Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run up to the 2012 Gujarat polls will commence in a month.

SAUNI is entirely a pipeline-based project planned on the assumption that 115 irrigation dams of all the seven districts of Saurashtra will be filled with surplus Naramda water at a cost of Rs. 10,000 crore.

Sources said in the first phase that will be completed in the next two years, 40 dams will be connected. 'Work is moving at a fast pace. We will start by linking four major projects of Saurastra first,' an official said.

The four projects identified for linking are Macchu 2 in Morbi and Und 1 in Jamnagar that will be connected with a 57-km-long pipeline. The second one is Limbdi Bhugau 2 in Surendranagar with Bhimdod in Bhavnagar with a 51-km-long pipeline. The third one is Wadhwan Bhugau 2 in Surendranagar with Macchu 1 in Morbi with a 66-km-long pipeline and the fourth is Limbdi Bhugau 2 in Surendranagar with Ankadiya in Rajkot with a 54-km-long pipeline.

TOI