Background: Narmada Bachao Andolan and Sardar Sarovar Dam

Fifty-six years after the foundation stone was laid, the Sardar Sarovar Dam project in Narmada district’s Kevadia has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17. The dam was dedicated to the nation by opening the 30 gates installed in it. On June 17, these gates were closed on the orders of the Narmada Control Authority. The gates were closed to increase the height of the dam from 121.92 metres to 138 metres and the storage capacity from the existing 1.27 million cubic metres to 4.73 million cubic metres (MCM).

Significance

• The project would benefit over 18 lakh hectares of land and 9000 villages in Gujarat as water will be carried out to villages through a canal network. Apart from this, around 0.86 million cubic feet (MAF) of water will be used for providing drinking water to 131 urban centres and 53% of total villages in the state of Gujarat.
• The Sardar Sarovar Dam is the biggest dam in the world in terms of volume of concrete used in it. It will be the second biggest dam after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States.
• The dam which is 1.2 km long has till date produced 4,141 crore units of electricity from its two power houses, namely, river bed powerhouse (1,200 MW capacity) and canal head powerhouse (250 MW capacity). So far the dam has earned more than Rs 16,000 crore which is more than double the cost of the construction of the dam. The power generated from the dam will be shared among three states – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Among the three states, 57% of the electricity produced from the dam will be utilised by Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat will get 27% and 16% of the electricity produced from the dam respectively.
• The water from the dam will also be used for irrigating 2,46,000 hectares of land in the strategically important desert districts of Barmer and Jalore in Rajasthan, and 37,500 hectares in the tribal hilly tract of Maharashtra.
• The project has the potential to feed 20 million people, provide water to about 30 million and employ about 1 million of people and will supply electric power to areas with high unmet power demand.
• The dam is expected to realise Prime Minister Modi’s dream of making poor farmers wealthy by 2022.

Background

Concept & construction

The dam project was first conceptualised in 1946 by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961. In 1960, Gujarat attained statehood after separation from the then State of Bombay.

Several disputes among the partner states – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan- over issues including distribution of water resulted in the formation of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) and its Review Committee (RCNCA) by a special tribunal constituted in 1969. The special tribunal awarded its final verdict in 1979. The height of the dam was sanctioned to be 138.68 m and the construction work of the dam began in 1987 after obtaining the necessary environmental clearances.

Phased permission

The project began to develop legal challenges beginning from 1995 after activist Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan petitioned the Supreme Court against the dam project. The Supreme Court then stayed the construction work on the project. Later the court permitted the construction work on the condition that gradual permission would be given to increase the height of the dam based upon the review of the rehabilitation of project-affected-people (PAP). In 2000-01, the Supreme Court authorised Narmada Control Authority (NCA) and its Review Committee (RCNCA) to supervise rehabilitation and order a gradual increase in height of the dam. In 2004, the height of the dam was increased to 110.64 m in March 2006, it was increased to 121.92 m. Recently in June 2017, its height got increased to 138.68 metres.

Protests and challenges

The Sardar Sarovar Dam project has been the subject of much controversy for decades. The project has faced much opposition since its inauguration in 1961. The main opposition was by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) led by social activist Medha Patkar. Medha Patkar first visited the site of the dam in 1985. Citing environmental and rehabilitation issues, the NBA activists obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court in 1996. They argued that the dam did not follow the required environmental and social conditions as meted out by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. So, they wanted to cut the funding for the project from the World Bank. NBA organised several mass protests against the project which garnered international attention. The cause of NBA was also supported by other notable figures like Baba Amte, Arundhati Roy etc.

Subsequently, bowing to the pressure, the World Bank commissioned panel was set up to review the project. After finding that inadequate assessment had been made by the Indian government and the World Bank, the loan authorised by the World Bank was cancelled in 1993.

After years of deliberation, the dam construction activity was given a green signal by the Supreme Court provided all those project-affected-people (PAP) are satisfactorily rehabilitated and that the process be repeated for every five metres increase in height.

Another challenge faced by the project was the dispute between three states- Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh over the issue of distribution of Narmada water. To resolve this issue, a Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) was created in 1969. After studying the various reports, the NWDT pronounced its verdict in 1979. According to the verdict, the 35 billion cubic metres of water would be made available for consumption from the dam. Out of the three states, Madhya Pradesh would receive 65% of it, while Gujarat will receive 32% and Rajasthan and Maharashtra would be eligible for the remaining 3%.