Sardar Sarovar dam
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The project
Ten salient facts
Shraddha Jandial, September 17, 2017: India Today
1. Sardar Sarovar project is the biggest dam in the world after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States.
2. The Sardar Sarovar Dam has two power houses - river bed power house and canal head powerhouse. The two powerhouses have the installed capacity of 1,200 MW and 250 MW respectively.
3. The dam has so far produced 4,141 crore units of electricity.
4. Sardar Sarovar Dam is also the most controversial development project of the nation. Activists have been long demanding that the filling of the reservoir with water be stopped immediately. They want the dam gates to be open to reduce the water level.
5. The gates of the dam were closed on July 17 to increase the height of the dam.
6. The permission for closing the gates was granted by the Narmada Control Authority after being convinced that rehabilitation of the people displaced due to the project was complete.
7. According to official figures, the dam has earned over Rs 16,000 crore. This means that the dam has already earned more than double the cost of its construction.
8. As per the arrangement, the power generated from the Sardar Sarovar Dam will be shared among Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. About 57 per cent of the electricity produced from the Sardar Sarovar Dam would go to Maharashtra while Madhya Pradesh will get 27 per cent and Gujarat 16 per cent.
9. The Narmada Bachao Andolan led by activist Medha Patkar has claimed that after raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, about 40,000 families in 192 villages in Madhya Pradesh will be displaced. The government has put the number of displaced families at 18,386 in Madhya Pradesh.
10. The foundation stone of the Sardar Sarovar Dam was laid by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961. The construction on the project began 26 years later in 1987, when his grandson Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister.
A brief history
A short history of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on river Narmada, September 17, 2017: The Indian Express
The Sardar Sarovar project was a vision of the first deputy prime minister of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The foundation stone of the project was laid out by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961.
The project which has been the subject of much controversy for decades now is reported to be one of the largest dams in the world. Having a length of 1.2 kms and a depth of 163 metres, the dam is expected to be shared among the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. “Four crore Gujaratis will get drinking water and 22,000 hectares of land will be irrigated,” claimed union minister Nitin Gadkari on the benefits of the project and added that the dam will help realise PM Modi’s dream of making poor farmers wealthy by 2022.
The Sardar Sarovar project was a vision of the first deputy prime minister of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The foundation stone of the project was laid out by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961 after carrying out a study on the usage of the Narmada river water that flowed through the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and into the Arabian Sea. A project report prepared for the dam led to much dispute over the means of distributing the Narmada water among the three states- Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. As the negotiations bore no fruit, a Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) was created in 1969 to decide the fate of the project.
After having studied a large number of reports and studies made by the three states, the NWDT gave its verdict in 1979. Accordingly, the 35 billion cubic metres of water available for consumption from the dam, Madhya Pradesh would receive 65 percent, Gujarat 32 percent and Rajasthan and Maharashtra would be eligible for the remaining 3 percent. The Planning Commission finally approved the project in 1988.
As the planning of the project was on its way , though, it soon caught the attention of social activists who found that the dam did not meet the required environmental and social conditions as meted out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Foremost among those who raised voice against the project was Medha Patkar who first visited the site of the dam in 1985.
Narendra Modi, Sardar Sarovar project, Sardar Sarovar dam, Modi inaugurates Sardar Sarovar dam, Modi and Sardar Sarovar dam, Sardar Sarovar dam controversy, Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan, India news, Indian Express Medha Patkar organised several mass protests and consolidated a movement against the project called the “Narmada Bachao Andolan” that went on to acquire international attention.
On realising that the project had received funding from the World Bank, despite it not being sanctioned by the Ministry of Environment, Medha Patkar organised several mass protests and consolidated a movement against the project called the “Narmada Bachao Andolan” that went on to acquire international attention.
While her motive was the complete stoppage of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, Patkar’s first target was the financing acquired by the project from the World Bank. She was not alone in raising a voice against the building of the dam. Other notable figures to have made a strong case of protest against the project were Baba Amte, Arundhati Roy and Aamir Khan.
The consistent struggle to dismantle the project built a huge amount of pressure on the World Bank and a bank commissioned panel was set up to review the project. On concluding the fact that inadequate assessment had been made by the Indian government and the World Bank prior to sanctioning the project, the government on March 31, 1993 cancelled the loan authorised by the World Bank.
After several years of much deliberation, however, the Supreme Court allowed the construction of the dam to proceed, provided it met with certain conditions. The foremost condition placed by the Court was that all those displaced by the increase in height of 5 metres be satisfactorily rehabilitated and that the process be repeated for every five metres increase in height.
Commenting on the benefits to be made from the project the Court said the following in its verdict:
“The project has the potential to feed as many as 20 million people, provide domestic and industrial water for about 30 million, employ about 1 million, and provide valuable peak electric power in an area with high unmet power demand (farm pumps often get only a few hours of power per day).”
Currently the height of the dam has been raised to 138.68 metres with a usable storage of 4.73 million acre feet of water. While inaugurating the dam, PM Modi performed Narmada aarti and offered prayers at the site. “There have been many who politicised the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. But we overcame all conspiracies against Maa Narmada to complete the Sardar Sarovar project,” he said as he emphasised the fact that that day would have been a matter of great pride to the man who had envisioned the Sardar Sarovar Dam: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Some lesser known facts
17 Sep 2017: The Times of India
PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam on 17th September, which also happened to be his 67th birthday. Modi dedicated the day to the nation the Dam, whose foundation was laid nearly six decades ago by former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. The foundation stone was laid on April 5, 1961 and it took 56 years to complete its construction. The inaugural event will also see the finale of the fortnight-long Narmada Mahotsav, which was launched by Gujarat government to celebrate the completion of work.
Sardar Sarovar Dam is the second-biggest concrete gravity dam in the world, the biggest being Grand Coulee Dam in the United States. Sardar Sarovar Dam is going to help irrigate 800,000 hectares of land in the state and will furnish drinking water to 131 urban centres and 9,633 villages. The canal will be used to irrigate parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
According a senior official involved with the project, the dam has minted Rs. 16,000 crore till date, which is double the money which was used to construct the dam. The plan for harnessing the river for irrigation and power generation was set up in 1946. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the project on April 4, 1961. The project was interrupted many times due to an interstate river water sharing dispute and protest against human and environmental implications it might have.
In 1985, social activist Medha Patkar along with other activist came forward and conducted a study of human and environmental implications of constructing this dam. They concluded that government undermined the environmental impact of the dam, as certain agricultural lands would be submerged. Millions would be displaced and there was no concrete rehabilitation program to put these people back to normalcy.
Several movements were launched against the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which came under the same umbrella ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’. Several popular faces like Arundhati Roy, Baba Amte, Aamir Khan, etc became the part of the movement. The proposed height of the dam was revised upward over the years by the government, despite facing resistance on the project. Supreme Court, lately, allowed it to increase the height by 17 metres.
According to the SSP, for one tribal displaced by the dam, seven will benefit. The project will not only generate electricity but will also affect environment positively. It will increase the tree plantation rate by 100 times and gains due to carbon dioxide fixation will be up to 70 times.
Projected benefits
Storage Capacity
2017: 30 sluice gates locked
Guj gets nod to raise Sardar Sarovar height, June 18, 2017: The Times of India
Closure Of Dam Gates Will Boost Storage Capacity
Gujarat's quest for more Narmada waters got a big fillip on Saturday with the state government ordering the locking of 30 sluice gates at the Sardar Sarovar dam in what will cause more submergence in the upstream areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh..
The Gujarat government got permission late on Friday from the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) to close all the radial gates, raising the dam height from existing 121.92 meters to 138.68 meters. This will allow storage of an additional 3.48 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water to parched areas of the state. The gates started closing early on Saturday and the process was to be completed by late evening.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani, deputy CM Nitin Patel along with senior ministers and bureaucrats rushed to dam site at Kevadiya early on Saturday morning to offer prayers and order closu re of the gates.
“It is a historic day for Gujarat and will open gates of development in the state,“ an ecstatic Rupani said.“Narmada is Gujarat's lifeline. Prime Minister Modi has turned the vision of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel into reality,“ Rupani added.
The development is expected to throw a political lifeline to the BJP in Gujarat as it battles unrest among farmers.
