2. Introduction
The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River in Navagam near the
town of Kevadiya, Narmada District, in the state of Gujarat, India. The dam was constructed to provide
water and electricity to four Indian states: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.
The project was a vision of the first deputy Prime Minister of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (also
known as Sardar Patel) and the foundation stone was laid by Jawaharlal Nehru. The project took form
in 1979 as part of a development scheme funded by the World Bank through their International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity, using a loan
of US$200 million. The construction for dam begun in 1987, but the project was stalled by the
Supreme Court of India in 1995 in the backdrop of Narmada 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. The dam was inaugurated in 2017 by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. The water level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam eventually reached its highest capacity at
138.7 metres on 15 September 2019.
3. Introduction
As one of the 30 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 the Grand Coulee Dam across the Columbia River, US. It is a part of the
Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic 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 the Supreme 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. The
project will irrigate 1.9 million hectare area, most of it in drought prone areas of Kutch and Saurashtra.
The dam's main power plant houses six 200 megawatts (MW) Francis pump-turbines to generate
electricity and include a pumped-storage capability. Additionally, a power plant on the intake for the
main canal contains five 50MW Kaplan turbine-generators. The total installed capacity of the power
facilities is 1,450 MW. The tallest statue in the world, the Statue of Unity, faces the dam. This statue
has been created as a symbol of tribute to the dam's visionary Sardar Patel.
4. Geographics
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's Malwa plateau,
where the Narmada river dissects the hills tracts and culminates in the Mathwar hills.
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 1.7km. 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. This
dam is one case study to learn about Integrated River Basin Planning, Development and
Management.
5. Water Management
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 over flow
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.
6. Importance in Gujarat
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 of
Kutch and Saurashatra. In 2021, for the first time Sardar Sarovar Dam provided waters for
irrigation in summers
7. Narmada Canal
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) in Gujarat and 730 km2 (280 sq mi) in the
arid areas of Barmer and Jalore districts of Rajasthan. The dam provides drinking water to 9490
villages and 173 urban centers in Gujarat; and 1336 villages & 3 towns in Rajasthan. The dam
also provides flood protection to riverine reaches measuring 30,000 ha (74,000 acres) covering
210 villages and Bharuch city and a population of 400,000 in Gujarat. Saurashtra Narmada
Avtaran Irrigation is a major program to help irrigate a lot of regions using the canal's water.
8. Solar Power Generation
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.
9. Statue of Unity
The Government of Gujarat constructed a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as
a symbol of tribute. The dam stands in front of the dam and is considered as
one of the major tourist attraction.
10. Rehabilitation
● Resettlement policy and strategy
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:
● Improve or at least regain the living standard of the project affected people prior to displacement.
● Should be relocated to villages units or section according to their preference.
● Integration with host community where they have settled.
● Appropriately compensated for adequate social and physical rehabilitation including infrastructure and
community services.
● Active participation of affected people in planning of their rehabilitation.
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."
11. Activism
The dam is one of India's controversial, and its environmental impact and net costs and benefits are
widely debated. The World 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. The Narmada Dam has been the center of controversy and
protests since the late 1980s.
One such protest takes center stage in the Spanner Films documentary Drowned Out (2002), which
follows one tribal family who decide to stay at home and drown rather than make way for the
Narmada Dam. An earlier documentary film is called A Narmada Diary (1995) by Anand Patwardhan
and Simantini Dhuru. The efforts of Narmada Bachao Andolan ("Save Narmada Movement") to seek
"social and environmental 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).
The figurehead for most part of the protest is Medha Patkar, the leader of the NBA. Patkar's role is
questioned in the protest as she is accused of money laundering. Other notable figures who
participated in the protest were Baba Amte, Arundhati Roy and Aamir Khan.
