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| Sardar Sarovar Dam | |
|---|---|
 The Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river | |
  Location of Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat | |
| Official name | Sardar Sarovar Dam |
| Location | Navagam,Kevadia,Narmada District,Gujarat,India |
| Coordinates | 21°49′49″N73°44′50″E / 21.83028°N 73.74722°E /21.83028; 73.74722 |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | April 1987 |
| Opening date | 17 September 2017 |
| Owner(s) | Government of Gujarat |
| Operator(s) | Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Gravity dam |
| Impounds | Narmada River |
| Height | 138.68 meters |
| Height (foundation) | 163 m (535 ft) |
| Length | 1,210 m (3,970 ft) |
| Spillways | 30 (Chute spillway (auxiliary) – 7 : 18.30 m x 18.00 m, Service Spillway – 23 : 18.30 m x 16.75 m) |
| Spillway type | Ogee |
| Spillway capacity | 86,944 m3/s (3,070,400 cu ft/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Sardar Sarovar Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 9.460 km3 (7,669,000 acre⋅ft) (334.12 tmc ft) |
| Active capacity | 5.760 km3 (4,670,000 acre⋅ft) (203.44 tmc ft) |
| Inactive capacity | 3.700 km3 (3,000,000 acre⋅ft) |
| Catchment area | 88,000 km2 (34,000 sq mi) |
| Surface area | 375.33 km2 (144.92 sq mi) |
| Maximum length | 214 km (133 mi) |
| Maximum width | 16.10 km (10.00 mi) |
| Maximum water depth | 140m |
| Normal elevation | 138 m (453 ft) |
| Power Station | |
| Operator(s) | Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited |
| Turbines | Dam: 6 × 200MWFrancis pump-turbine Canal: 5 × 50 MWKaplan-type[1] |
| Installed capacity | 1,450 MW |
| Annual generation | Varies from 1 Billion kWh in surplus rainfall year to 0.86 Billion kWh in deficit year. |
| Website www | |
TheSardar Sarovar Dam is a concretegravity dam built on theNarmada River near the town ofKevadiya, inNarmada District, in the Indian state ofGujarat. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to the Indian states ofGujarat,Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra andRajasthan.
India's first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation of the project on 5 April 1961.[2] The project took form in 1979 as part of a development scheme funded by theWorld Bank through theirInternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to increaseirrigation and producehydroelectricity, using a loan of US$200 million.[3] The construction for dam begun in 1987, but the project was stalled by theSupreme Court of India in 1995 in the backdrop ofNarmada Bachao Andolan over concerns of displacement of people. In 2000–01 the project was revived but with a lower height of 111 meters under directions from SC, which was later increased in 2006 to 123 meters and 139 meters in 2017. The Sardar Sarovar Dam is 1210 meters long.[4] The dam was inaugurated in 2017 by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.[5] The water level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam eventually reached its highest capacity at 138.7 metres on 15 September 2019.[6][7]
As one of the 25 dams planned on river Narmada, the Sardar Sarovar Dam is the largest structure to be built. It is the second largest concrete dam in the world in terms of the volume of concrete used in its construction, after theGrand Coulee Dam across theColumbia River, US.[8][9] It is a part of the Narmada Valley Project, a largehydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectricity multi-purpose dams on the Narmada River. After a number of cases before theSupreme Court of India (1999, 2000, 2003), by 2014 the Narmada Control Authority had approved a series of changes in the final height and the associated displacement caused by the increased reservoir, from the original 80 m (260 ft) to a final 163 m (535 ft) from foundation.[10][11] The project will irrigate 1.9 million hectare area, most of it in drought prone areas ofKutch andSaurashtra.
The dam's main power plant houses six 200 megawatts (MW)Francis pump-turbines to generate electricity and include apumped-storage capability. Additionally, a power plant on the intake for the main canal contains five 50MWKaplan turbine-generators. The total installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW.[12] The tallest statue in the world, theStatue of Unity, faces the dam. This statue has been created as a symbol of tribute toVallabhbhai Patel.[13]
The dam is located in Gujarat's Narmada district and Kevadia village, on the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra. To the west of the dam, is Madhya Pradesh'sMalwa plateau, where the Narmada river dissects the hills tracts and culminates in the Mathwar hills.[14]
The dam is 1,210 meters long and stands 163 meters tall. The Sardar Sarovar reservoir has a gross capacity of 0.95 million hectares meter and live storage capacity of 0.586 million hectares meter. It occupies an area of 37,000ha with an average length of 214 km and width of 1.7 km. The river catchment area above the dam site is 88,000 square kilometers. It has a spillway discharging capacity of 87,000 cubic meters a second.[15] This dam is one case study to learn about Integrated River Basin Planning, Development and Management.[16]
The reservoir operation in the catchment area during the monsoons (from July to October) is well synchronized with the rain forecast. The River Bed Power House (RPBH) is responsible for strategically maximizing the annual allocation of water share. It ensures that minimum water flows downstream, and maximum water is used in the dam overflow period (generally in Monsoons). In non-monsoon months, RPBH takes measures to minimize the conventional and operational losses, avoiding water storage, restricting water intensive perennial crops, adoption of underground pipelines, proper maintenance of canals, related structures and operation of canals on a rotational basis.[17]
This project was envisioned by the first Home Minister of India,Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of this project in 1961. A thorough survey was carried out by his government to study the usage of the Narmada River which flows through states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to theArabian Sea.[18]
As the river was shared between the three states (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) there were disputes regarding sharing of water and other important resources. As the negotiations were not successful a report was created, and the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) was established in 1969. In 1979 the NWDT gave its verdict after assessing all the reports.[19]
This dam is called 'the lifeline of Gujarat'. Seventy five percent of Gujarat's command area is considered a drought prone area, this dam will cater for domestic water supply to the regions ofKutch andSaurashatra. In 2021, for the first time Sardar Sarovar Dam provided waters for irrigation in summers.[20]
The dam irrigates 17,920 km2 (6,920 sq mi) of land spread over 12 districts, 62 talukas, and 3,393 villages (75% of which is drought-prone areas) inGujarat and 730 km2 (280 sq mi) in the arid areas ofBarmer andJalore districts ofRajasthan. The dam provides drinking water to 9490 villages and 173 urban centers in Gujarat; and 1336 villages and 3 towns in Rajasthan. The dam also provides flood protection to riverine reaches measuring 30,000 ha (74,000 acres) covering 210 villages andBharuch city and a population of 400,000 in Gujarat.[21]Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation is a major program to help irrigate a lot of regions using the canal's water.The length of canal originating from dam is approximately 75,000 km within Gujarat.[22]
In 2011, the government of Gujarat announced plans to generate solar power by placing solar panels over the canal, making it beneficial for the surrounding Villages to get power and also helping to reduce the evaporation of water. The first phase consists of placing panels along a 25 km length of the canal, with a capacity for up to 25 MW of power.[23]
TheGovernment of Gujarat constructed a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as a symbol of tribute. The statue stands in front of the dam and is considered as one of the major tourist attractions in the region.[24]
The Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal, setup by Indian government has provided a policy framework under which rehabilitation of affected people has been implemented. The guiding principles of this policy are:
According to a research paper and survey done by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar and Neeraj Kaushal: "Are Resettled Out sees from the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project Better off Today than their Former - despite implementation glitches, those displaced were far better off than their former forest neighbors in ownership of a range of assets including TVs, cellphones, vehicles, access to schools and hospitals, and agricultural markets. The gap in asset ownership and other outcomes between the treatment and comparison groups was often statistically larger if the heads of the household were illiterate compared to the gap if they were literate. This finding suggests that resettlement helped vulnerable groups more than the less vulnerable and that fears that resettlement will destroy the lives and lifestyles of tribal have been grossly exaggerated."[26]
The dam is one of India's most controversial, and its environmental impact and net costs and benefits are widely debated.[27] TheWorld Bank was initially funding, but withdrew in 1994 at the request of the Government of India when the state governments were unable to comply with the loan's environmental and other requirements.[28] The Narmada Dam has been the center of controversy and protests since the late 1980s.[29]
One such protest takes center stage in the Spanner Films documentaryDrowned Out (2002), which follows one tribal family who decide to stay at home and drown rather than make way for the Narmada Dam.[30]An earlier documentary film is calledA Narmada Diary (1995) byAnand Patwardhan and Simantini Dhuru. The efforts ofNarmada Bachao Andolan ("Save Narmada Movement") to seek "social andenvironmental justice" for those most directly affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam construction feature prominently in this film. It received the (Filmfare Award for Best Documentary-1996).[31]
The figurehead for most part of the protest isMedha Patkar, the leader of theNBA.[32] Patkar's role is questioned in the protest as she is accused of money laundering.[33] Other notable figures who participated in the protest wereBaba Amte,Arundhati Roy andAamir Khan.[34]
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| Regions of Gujarat | ||
| Districts | ||
| Major cities | ||
| Ecoregions | ||
| Economy | ||
