WHAT IS SARDAR SAROVAR

NARMADA PROJECT?

The Narmada Dam Project is a project

involving the construction of a series of large
hydroelectric dams on the Narmada River in
India.

• HISTORY OF PROJECT:-
The project was first conceived of in the 1940s
by the country's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal
Nehru. The project only took form in 1979 as
part of a development scheme to increase
irrigation and produce hydroelectricity.

World Bank had signed a Loan agreement with GOI of $450 million, signed in
May 1985.
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoE&F) formed Resettlement and
Resettlement (R&R) and Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) for the
Project. After the formation of these departments the project came in existence.
The project began in 1979 and to be fully complete by 2025.
Gujarat Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are the states that are to
be benefited.

World Bank withdrew the project in 1993.

• OBJECTION FOR NARMADA

PROJECT :-

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From the day one, the project is in the controversy. The Narmada Bachao
Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement), which is spearheading the protest,
says the project will displace more than 200,000 people apart from damaging
the fragile ecology of the region.

NBA activists such as Medha Patkar, Amir Khan,

Farmland will be submerged once the dam is
Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, Arundhiti Roy andcomplete
other say that the dams will submerge forest
farmland, disrupt downstream fisheries and
possibly inundate and salinate land along the
canals, increasing the prospect of insect-borne
diseases.

Some scientists have added to the debate saying the

construction of large dams could cause A massive undertaking
earthquakes.

They say that in a country as disorganised as India, it is likely that the necessary
maintenance of these dams may suffer.

But those in favour of the project say that the project will supply water to 30m
people and irrigate crops to feed another 20m people.

In what was seen as a major victory for the anti-dam activists, the World Bank
withdrew from the Narmada project in 1993.

Several other international financial institutions also pulled out citing human
and environmental concerns.

The construction of Sardar Sarovar dam itself was stopped soon afterwards.

• FEATURE OR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT:

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Of the thirty large dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Project
(SSP) is the largest multipurpose project involved in the construction with a
proposed height of 136.5 m.

The multi-purpose project will irrigate more than 18,000 square kilometres,
most of it in drought prone areas like Kutch and Saurashtra.

The multi-million dollar project involves the construction of some 3,200 small,
medium and large dams on the Narmada river.

Sardar Sarovar project is the first major river valley project which is subjected
to exacting environmental conditions imposed by the Government of India at
the time of according clearance to this project.

This is also one of the first projects where environmental impact assessment has
been undertaken through agencies even when the project was in planning phase.

• HEIGHT ISSUES (INVOLVEMENT OF COURT IN HIGHTS):

Many times, this big budget Dam-Project brought the states to the Court about
its height matter.
• In February 1999, the Supreme Court of India gave the go ahead for the
dam's height to be raised to 88 metres from the initial 80.
• In October 2000 again, in a 2 to 1 majority judgement in the Supreme
Court, the government was allowed to construct the dam up to 90 metres.
• In May 2002, the Narmada Control Authority approved increasing the
height of the dam by another five metres.
• In March 2004, the Authority allowed another raise, this time to 110
metres.
• In March 2006, the Narmada Control Authority gave clearance for the
height of the dam to increased from 110.64 metres to 121.92. This came
after the Supreme Court of India had refused to stay the height of the dam
again in 2003.

However, in October 2000, the Indian Supreme Court gave a go-ahead for the
construction of the dam. In the end Supreme Court ordered that the height
should can be taken to 121.92.

• BENEFITS FROM THE PROJECT:

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IRRIGATION

The Sardar Sarovar Project will provide irrigation facilities to 18.45

lac ha. of land, covering 3112 villages of 73 talukas in 15 districts of
Gujarat. It will also irrigate 75,000 ha. of land in the strategic desert
districts of Barmer and Jallore in Rajasthan and 37,500 ha. in the
tribal hilly tract of Maharashtra through lift. About 75% of the
command area in Gujarat is drought prone while entire command
(75,000 ha.) in Rajasthan is drought prone. Assured water supply will
soon make this area drought proof.

DRINKING WATER SUPPLY

A special allocation of 0.86 MAF of water has been made to

provide drinking water to 135 urban centres and 8215 villages
(45% of total 18144 villages of Gujarat) within and out-side
command in Gujarat for present population of 18 million and
prospective population of over 40 million by the year 2021. All
the villages and urban centres of arid region of Saurashtra and
Kachchh and all "no source" villages and the villages affected by
salinity and fluoride in North Gujarat will be benefited. Water
supply requirement of several industries will also be met from the
project giving a boost to all-round production

POWER

There will be two power houses viz. River bed power house
and canal head power house with an installed capacity of 1200
MW and 250 MW respectively. The power would be shared by
three states - Madhya Pradesh - 57%, Maharashtra - 27% and
Gujarat 16%. This will provide a useful paking power to
western grid of the country which has very limited hydel power
production at present.
A series of micro hydel power stations are also planned on the
branch canals where convenient falls are available.

FLOOD PROTECTION

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 It will also provide flood protection to riverine reaches
measuring 30,000 ha. covering 210 villages and Bharuch city
and a population of 4.0 lac in Gujarat.

OTHER BENEFITS:

Benefits to small and marginal Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe farmers

would be as under :

Marginal farmers (< 1 ha.) 28.0 %

Small farmers (1 to 2 ha.) 24.4%
Scheduled Tribe 8.7%
Scheduled Caste 9.1%

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 • LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT :

The total land coming under submergence due to the project in the 3 states is
37533 ha.

In Madhya Pradesh, only the government land will be affected in 9 villages and
in 20 villages only houses will be affected (due to back water effect) and in 82
villages the submergence of agricultural land is less than 10%.

111 villages in MP are marginally affected. In 32 villages, extent of

submergence is 11% to 25%, in 30 villages 26% to 50%, in 14 villages 51% to
75%. in 4 villages 76% to 90% and in 1 village 100%.

In Maharashtra, out of 33 villages affected, the submergence in 12 villages is

less than 25 ha, and in 6 less than 50 ha. One village is deserted. Thus, 19
villages out of 33 are marginally affected.

A total of 244 villages are to be affected by the construction of the dam,

however only 4 villages will face 100% submergence of agricultural land.

In Madhya Pradesh as many as 18000 affected families will lose only their
houses and not their agricultural lands.

% of tribals in project
Name of the state
affected population
Gujarat 97.4

Maharashtra 100

Madhya Pradesh 29

TRIBUNAL AWARD.

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Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (October 1969)
Under Section-4 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, the Central
Government constituted Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) on 6th
Oct. 1969 to adjudicate upon the sharing of Narmada waters and Narmada
River Valley Development under the Chairmanship of Justice V. Ramaswami.

• Award Of The Tribunal

The Tribunal gave its Award on 7th Dec., 1979. The NWDT Award was
notified by Government of India on 12th December, 1979, whereupon it became
final and binding on the parties to the dispute. The Award specified quantum of
utilisable waters at 75% dependability to be shared by the four States of
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan as under:-

Allocated share % share

Party States
of water of power
3
Madhya Pradesh 18,250,000 acre feet (22.51 km ) 57
Gujarat 9,000,000 acre feet (11 km3) 16
Maharashtra 250,000 acre feet (0.31 km3) 27
Rajasthan 500,000 acre feet (0.62 km3) Nil
Total 28,000,000 acre feet (35 km3) 100

State Flow
Gujarat 9.00 MAF
Madhya Pradesh 18.25 MAF
Maharashtra 0.25 MAF
Rajasthan 0.50 MAF
Total 28.00 MAF
(MAF-Million Acre Feet)

The Tribunal determined that the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam should be
fixed for Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 138.68 m (455 ft.). and also directed
Government of Gujarat (GOG) to take up and complete the construction of the

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dam accordingly. According to Clause-16 of the final orders of the Tribunal, the
parameters of shares of utilisable waters by the States, FRL of the reservoir and
Full Supply Level (FSL) of Navagam Canal are made subject to review at any
time after a period of 45 years from the date of publication of the Award of the
Tribunal in the official gazette.

The uniqueness of this Award is that a non riparian state – Rajasthan – has been
allocated a share of Narmada waters, for meeting the water requirements of the
drought prone districts of Barmer and Jalore, which have no other source of
dependable water.

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Images of Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd.

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