The Sardar Sarovar dam is a gravity dam on the Narmada river near Navagam, Gujarat in India. The foundation stone of the dam was laid in the year 1979 by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Thirty gates of the dam were closed on the directions of Narmada Control Authority this year only on June 17th. The gates were closed in order to increase the height of the dam to 139 meters which earlier was 121.92 meters. Also, the storage capacity is increased to 4.73 million cubic meters from 1.27 million cubic meters.
The current chief minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, told the media that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the dam on his birthday on 17th September. He said, ” The Prime Minister will dedicate the Sardar Sarovar project to the nation after opening the thirty gated installed in it”. He also said that ” It is the best gift for him on his birthday as he has worked tirelessly for the dam to bring water in the parched areas of the state.”
By this dam, over 18 lakh hectares of land in the state would be benefitted with irrigation as Narmada river’s water will flow over 9,000 villages of Gujarat through a canal network. It is the biggest dam in the world after Grand Coulee Dam in the United States in terms of volume of concrete used in it.
The Sardar Sarovar dam is 1.2 km long and 163 meters deep. An SSP (Sardar Sarovar Project) official said that ” the dam has earned over Rs. 16,000 crore – more than double the cost of its construction”. Also, the electricity and power that would be generated from this project will be shared by three states – Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Many desert districts of Barmer and Jalor in Rajasthan and tribal hilly tracts of Maharashtra will also be benefited.
As many as 131 urban centers and 9,633 villages in Gujarat will also get the gift of allocation of 0.86 million cubic feet of water in the form of drinking water.
It took only three years for the installation of the gates. This fast paced development of such huge projects is surely proving to be a boon in the development of the nation. What are your views on this? Let us know in the comment section.