Narmada dam project complete
Our Correspondent
Ahmedabad, June 17
The long-awaited multi-state Sardar Sarovar dam project on the Narmada was effectively completed today, enabling Gujarat to use its full potential for irrigation and drinking water.
After a ceremony performed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel, all 30 radial gates of the dam were closed, tripling the water storage capacity of Sardar Sarovar from 1.4 to 4.75 million acre feet.
This will help irrigate about 1.8 million hectares of land in north Gujarat and the Kutch-Saurashtra regions and supply drinking water to 131 urban centres and 9,663 villages. The supply of Narmada waters would benefit about 10 lakh farmers through irrigation and about three crore people through drinking water in the state.
The Centre had permitted the closure of the dam gates before the arrival of the monsoon to enable full storage of the dam capacity after the three states concerned — Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — as well as Gujarat completed resettlement and rehabilitation of the dam-affected families ahead of July 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court.
