Sardar Sarovar: Modi to inaugurate world's second biggest dam today

[ito]

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nati...orlds-second-biggest-dam-on-his-birthday.html

The inaugural event is being held on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 67th birthday.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961 by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. (Photo: sardarsarovardam.org)

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will inaugurate the world's second biggest dam -- Sardar Sarovar Dam -- described as Gujarat's lifeline by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961 by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. However, it took 56 years to complete its construction.

"Tomorrow, Sardar Sarovar Dam will be dedicated to the nation. This project will benefit lakhs of farmers & help fulfil people’s aspirations," tweeted Modi.

The inaugural event is being held on Modi's 67th birthday. The closing ceremony of the event addressed as the Narmada Mahotsav will take place in the end, to celebrate completion of the work.

Modi will also address a public meeting at Dabhoi, following the inauguration.

His visit, which has added significance as the Assembly elections are due in Gujarat by year-end, is the second in less than a week after he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad and launched the Bullet train project.

The delay in the completion of the dam was due to numerous reasons. Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan took the government to the Supreme Court over environmental and rehabilitation issues, and obtained a stay in 1996.

The court allowed resumption of work in October 2000.

The height of the dam was recently raised to 138.68 metres, which will allow maximum 'usable storage' of 4.73 million acre feet of water.

After the inauguration, Modi will travel to Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada river, where he will take stock of the 'Statue of Unity' project.

The 'Statue of Unity' is a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, dedicated to the country's first home minister.

Modi will lay foundation stone for National Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum during the event.

Modi will then visit Amreli in Saurashtra where he will attend a host of programmes and address a public gathering.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Congress has claimed that the project is not complete and canals of 43,000 km length were yet to be built despite the BJP ruling the state for 22 years.

 

[ito]

Your 10-Point Guide To Sardar Sarovar Dam, World's Second Biggest

1. The Sardar Sarovar project is the biggest dam in terms of volume of concrete used in it.
2. The 1.2-km-long dam, which is 163 metres deep has till date produced 4,141 crore units of electricity from its two power houses -- river bed powerhouse and canal head powerhouse -- with an installed capacity of 1,200 MW and 250 MW, respectively.
3. The dam has earned over Rs. 16,000 crore -- more than double the cost of its construction, said a government spokesperson. Each gate of the dam weighs over 450 tonnes and it takes one hour to close them.
4. Officials say the power generated from the dam would be shared among three states -- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. About 57 percent of the electricity produced from the dam goes to Maharashtra, while Madhya Pradesh gets 27 per cent and Gujarat gets 16 per cent.
5. Activists have been long demanding that the filling of the reservoir with water be stopped immediately and the dam's gates remain open so as to reduce the water level.
6. The water level in the submergence area of the dam in Barwani and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh is rising steadily since closure of the dam's gates began in July. The Narmada Bachao Andolan group claims that 40,000 families in 192 villages in Madhya Pradesh would be displaced when the reservoir is filled to its optimum capacity. As per the government, 18,386 families would be affected in the state.
7. The new gates raise the height of the dam to 138.68 metres. The Narmada Control Authority in June granted permission to the state government to close the gates, which will raise water level in the Sardar Sarovar reservoir, after being convinced that rehabilitation of the people displaced due to the project was complete.
8. Activist Medha Patkar is protesting against the project and demanding rehabilitation of the families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam construction. Narmada Bachao Andolan took the government to the Supreme Court over environmental and rehabilitation issues, and obtained a stay in 1996. The court allowed resumption of work in October 2000.
9. The height of the dam was recently raised to 138.68 metres, which will allow maximum 'usable storage' of 4.73 million acre feet of water.
10. Gujarat Congress has claimed that the project is not complete and canals of 43,000 km length were yet to be built despite the BJP ruling the state for 22 years.

 

[Didact]

I don't, as a general principle. like Mega-Dams. We underestimate mega-dams' impact on the geotechnical, geological environment. Not many people here would be aware, but large dams have been directly correlated with increased incidence of earthquakes, even in areas with no history of previous earthquakes in ~100 years.

We simply do not conduct due diligence of the impact of the overbearing pressure up to its dept of influence (the depth of soil to which any weight acts). One of our theories is that the enormous weight of the water stored causes slips in the deep soil/rock faultlines causing seismic activity. In the worst case scenario, it can make entire rock layers deep beneath the earth unstable.