Sardar Sarovar Dam

Sardar Sarovar Dam is built on the river Narmada near Navagam, located in Gujarat, India. It is said to be the world's second-biggest concrete gravity dam after America's Grand Coulee.

Sardar Sarovar Dam foundation stone was laid by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 5 April 1961. To complete this Dam construction, it took 56 years. The dam provides water and electricity to four Indian states: Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra.

Let's look at some of the lesser-known and fascinating facts about Sardar Sarovar Dam.

History of Sardar Sarovar Dam

In 1946, the Narmada basin's strategy for river harnessing for both power generating and irrigation was launched. At the time of the original survey, seven projects were selected, including the Bharuch project, and four projects in Madhya Pradesh were given high priority for investigation: Bargi, Bharuch (Gujarat), Punasa, and Tawa. After the completion of this investigation, the proposed Dam. On the 5th of April 1961, the late Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the foundation stone at Gora in Gujarat, with the full reservoir level (i.e., FRL) of 161 feet (or 49.08m).

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However, after the updated contour sheets from the Survey of India became available, the prospect of boosting the dam's height for optimal water utilisation was studied.

The Government of India created an expert group under the chairmanship of Dr. Khosla in 1964 to address the issue over the distribution of the Narmada Waters between the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which suggested a larger dam with FRL 500 ft (or 152.44m) in 1965. The Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (named NWDT) was established by the Government of India in October 1969, under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956, after the Government of Madhya Pradesh refused to agree to the development of Narmada water as recommended by the Khosla Committee report. NWDT gave its final award in 1979 December.

10 Interesting Facts about Sardar Sarovar Dam

Lets us look at the following 10 Interesting & Unknown facts about Sardar Sarovar Dam:

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 17 September 2017, inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The Sardar Sarovar Dam, which spans the Narmada River, was conceived by India's First Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

2. However, the project ran into a dispute in terms of water distribution in the planning stage itself among the states. To address the issue, the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal was established in 1969. The court agreed on a water distribution system that would give Madhya Pradesh 65 percent, Gujarat 32 percent, and Rajasthan and Maharashtra the rest after analysing the ideas for a decade.

3. In 2017, the length of the Sardar Sarovar Dam was raised to 1.2 kilometres, and the dam's height was increased to 138.68 metres. It is said to be the third-highest concrete dam across the Indian country.

4. Up to 800,000 hectares of land in Gujarat and approximately 2,46,000 hectares of land in Rajasthan are irrigated by the dam water. Also, it is said that it provides drinking water to 131 cities and towns and up to 9,633 villages in these 4 states.

5. The depth of Sardar Sarovar Dam is up to 163 metres and there are two power generation units installed. They, together, have up to 1,450 MW capacities to generate the power.

6. According to the project terms, Madhya Pradesh will get up to 27%, Gujarat up to 16 percent and Maharashtra is to get up to 57% of the electricity produced.

7. The dam’s construction cost is double, which is more than Rs.16,000 crore. The weight of each gate of the dam is approximately 450 tonnes and takes almost one hour to close.

8. The water level in the dam's submergence area in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar and Barwani districts is constantly rising. According to the Narmada Bachao Andolan, when the reservoir is filled to its maximum capacity, up to 40,000 families from 192 villages in Madhya Pradesh will be displaced.

9. And, according to the World Bank, this project was started with very little assessment of rehabilitation and resettlement and environmental impact.

10. The project's benefit is that the river Narmada's unused water might be used to supply many Gujarati dry towns, districts, and villages. This project also provides electricity to the unserved regions and to the farmers as well. Also, it provides water for drinking purposes and irrigation. It provides flood protection to an area of up to 30,000 hectares and the Wildlife sanctuaries will also be benefited.

So, these are some unknown and interesting facts about Sardar Sarovar Dam.

Benefits of the Project

Now that we have seen the interesting facts about Sardar Sarovar dam. Let us look at some benefits of it. There are many benefits of this project, where a few of them are given below.

Irrigation

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By encompassing 3112 villages in 73 talukas across 15 districts in Gujarat, the Sardar Sarovar Project would improve irrigation facilities for 18.45 lakh hectares of land. The lift will also irrigate 2,46,000 hectares of land in Rajasthan's important desert districts of Jalore and Barmer, as well as 37,500 hectares in Maharashtra's tribal hills region. Drought affects up to 75% of the command area in Gujarat, and the entire command in Rajasthan. The assured water supply will soon make this area drought-proof.

Drinking Water Supply

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A special allocation of water (0.86 MAF) has been created to provide drinking water to 9490 villages and 173 urban centres in Gujarat, both inside and beyond the command, for a current population of 28 million people and a projected population of almost 40 million people by 2021. All urban centres and villages in the arid regions of Kachchh and Saurashtra, as well as all "no source" villages in North Gujarat, including those plagued by fluoride and salt, will benefit. Many industries' water supply requirements will be addressed as a result of this project, which will enhance overall productivity.

Power

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There are two power plants, Canal Head Power House and River Bed Power House, each with a 250 MW and 1200 MW installed capacity. Here, the power would be shared by 3 states - Maharashtra - 27%, Gujarat 16% and Madhya Pradesh - 57%. This would supply useful peaking power to India's western grid, which now has relatively little hydel power generation. On the branch canals, where the opportune falls are accessible, a series of micro hydel power stations are also proposed.

Flood Protection

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This dam would safeguard 30,000 hectares of riverine reaches in Gujarat, which cover 210 villages and the city of Bharuch, as well as a population of 4.0 million people.

Wild Life

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Wild life sanctuaries, which is "Shoolpaneshwar wildlife sanctuary", located on left Bank, Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Black Buck National Park at Velavadar, little Rann of Kachchh, Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, Alia Bet at the mouth of River and Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Kachchh will be benefited.

Additional Production

SSP would also generate electricity. On completion, the annual additional water supply and power generation Rs. 175 crores, agricultural production would be with a value of Rs.1600 crores, aggregating up to Rs. 2175 crores annually equivalent to up to Rs. 6.0 crores a day.

Environmental Protection

Environment and development are said to be two sides of the same coin. It is also recognized that sustainable development is not possible without adequate environmental protection measures. The Sardar Sarovar project is claimed to be the first principal river valley project to be subjected to stringent environmental requirements imposed by the Indian government when the project was approved. Also, this is one of the major projects where the environmental impact assessment has been undertaken via agencies even when the project was in the planning phase