Following the decision by Narmada Control Authority (NCA) to allow closing the floodgates on the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River at Kevadia Colony, the Gujarat government closed all the 30 gates of the dam raising the water reservoir level to 138.68 metres from the existing 121.92 metres for the first time.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani termed the moment a “golden moment in the history of Gujarat”. "In 1946, it was the dream of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi realised that dream in 2017."

The deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, who accompanied Rupani at the dam site to make the formal closure of the flood gates, said, the decision will help increase the dam's live storage from 1.27 million acre feet (MAF) to 4.73 MAF enabling irrigation benefit for 18 lakh hectare of land in the State and benefiting about four crore people including 9,000 villages."

Chief Minister Rupani further added that the 30 gates - of which seven have 60x60 feet dimension and remaining 23 having 60x50 ft dimension- will remain closed to allow more storage of water. The electricity generation through the two hydro units of combined capacity of 1450 megawatt at the dam would increase by 40 per cent.

The installation and closing of the gates on the dam will bring down the overflow period significantly. The dam had overflowed for about 80 days in 2013-14, 19 days in 2014-15 and 2015-16 each. The increased height of the dam will stop the excess water from flowing down into the sea and subsequently be diverted for the drinking and irrigation purposes in the areas of North Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch and Central Gujarat.