Saturday, July 2 2005 11:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: After successfully interlinking various rivers in the State, Gujarat Government has drawn up an action-plan to revive about 100 small and big rivers in drought-prone areas of the State and ensure their flow throughout the year.

Most of these rivers belong to North Gujarat and Saurashtra regions and dry-up soon after the monsoon ends.

"The Government will be reviving about 77 rivers in Saurashtra by building about 300 big check-dams at various places along the river-bed," State Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Narrotam Patel told sources.

"Another 22 rivers of North Gujarat, including the legendary Saraswati, Banas, Rupen, Meswo, Sabarmati and others will also be revived," he added.

"Under this project, a series of check-dams will be built on each and every river at suitable places which will help in trapping the run-off water during the monsoons and conserve it thorough out the year," Mathur Savani, the chairman of Saurashtra Jal Dhara Trust told sources.

"The water, which normally disappears from these rivers after the monsoon will now be trapped in these check dams, which has the capacity to provide crucial irrigation water to villages along the rivers," he said.

"The dams are being built at distance of five to ten kilometers between them along the stretch of the rivers," Savani said adding Saurashtra alone required 5,000 big check-dams to tide over the water crises in the region.