Rajiv Shah | TNN Gandhinagar: In a decision with far-reaching political implications, the Gujarat government has suddenly doubled the release of water from the Narmada dam into the 458-kilometres-long main canal, starting at Kevadia Colony and ending at Rajasthan. Sachivalaya sources said if till now the canal was receiving a mere 5,000 cubic feet per seconds (cusecs) of water, immediately after the declaration of the Lok Sabha polls, the total volume of water being released in the canal has been increased to 9,700 cusecs. "The release will continue till April 30, the day of the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat", the sources added. While officials of the Narmada and water resources department justified the sudden decision to increase the volume of water to be released in the canal as "necessary in view of the farmers' need for waters during the season", it is ex-pectedly meant to help the ruling BJP, especially Chief Minister Narendra Modi, to showpiece the canal network in Gujarat as one of a major success story amid widespread criticism over the "failure" to ready most of the 18 lakh hectares (ha) of Narmada command area. As of today, only 85,000 ha area has been covered. * "Informal instructions have gone to all Narmada engineers in the state to allow farmers to start extracting waters from the canal by putting up diesel pumps. They have been told not to charge anything for pumping out the waters," said a bureaucrat, adding, "At the same time, the engineers have been asked to prepare a list of farmers who are using waters like this. They will be billed with a mere Rs 250 for using Narmada waters like this during the current season." Instructions have also gone to fill up all ponds that are next to the canal with with increased flow of Narmada waters. Significantly, two years back, the Gujarat government put a ban on illegally pumping out of Narmada waters straight from the canal. Estimate suggest, 5,000 farmers in Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Banaskatha and Patan districts may benefit by illegally putting up the pumps. "They will need water by March-end, immediately after the harvesting of the standing crop ends," officials said, adding, "The effort is to help farmers start irrigating nearly 4 lakh ha, instead of allowing crops to dry down in the absence of a proper canal network." In 2007 and 2008, nearly 1,000 pumps in Mehsana and Banaskatha districts were confiscated for illegally using water. Calling it a short-sighted decision, critics say, allowing farmers to use water illegally will create a bad precedent. Narayanbhai Patel, chairman of SSNNL, agrees that Narmada command area has not been developed as rich farmers do not allow it. "They also do not allow setting up of water cooperatives, or pani man-dlis, which are a must for Narmada water distribution," he told TOI