Ingress of Salinity in Coastal Area of Junagadh

Abstract

The problem was brought to the notice of the Government. Considering the situation, importance of combating salinity in the saurashtra region, Government formed two high level committees in the year ’76 and ’78 respectively to investigate the problem of salinity ingress and to give suggestions for its remedial measures. Solutions suggested by them were construction of Tidal Regulators, Bandharas, Checkdams, Spreading channels, afforestation and some management techniques which include regulation of lifting of underground water and change of crop pattern and coastal land Reclamation bunds. As per the suggestions given by the committees, various infrastructure development plan had taken place through constructions of Bandharas, Tidal regulators, Recharge reservoirs, recharge tanks, check dams and spreading channels in the Districts of the Saurashtra region by the Government of Gujarat in last 30 years & as such benefits have been obtained, which includes, increase in irrigation potential for land and the increase in the quantity of benefited areas of cultivable land. The lines of 2000 TDS have been moved towards the coastal region from the non-coastal region. Migration of the population has been arrested and in majority of the cases the migrated people have returned and restored to their respective villages and professions. The prices of agriculture land have also improved considerably. This has direct bearing on the improvement of economic prosperity of the region. The efforts made by the Government of Gujarat have changed the scenario of rural people, who were suffering from the problem of salinity for a long time. Now they witnessed the development. The future is bright in the coming years. We have to save every drop of water, and have to use water as per requirement, adopt proper water harvesting technology and rain water harvesting must be promoted. Let us work together for combating the deteriorated ground water and help the mankind