LIVE updates: On his birthday, PM Modi inaugurates Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat
The Sardar Sarovar Project, billed as the lifeline of Gujarat, will provide water to more than half of the state’s 18,144 villages and irrigate more than 21 lakh hectares of land.
india Updated: Sep 17, 2017 11:59 IST
Hindustan Times, Ahmedabad
On his 67th birthday on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the Sardar Sarovar dam built on the Narmada to the nation – 56 years after its foundation was laid by India’s first premier Jawaharlal Nehru.
It was Modi’s second visit to election-bound Gujarat in less than a week after he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad to launch the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
Read: Disputes, protests mark Sardar Sarovar dam’s long journey
The BJP, which has woven its assembly election campaign around this ‘lifeline of Gujarat’, had started celebrating the success of the project since 2014 when the NDA came to power at the Centre.
Here are live updates:
11.58am: PM Modi has given me the responsibility of river development and I’ll complete the assignment, says Gadkari.
11.56am: PM Modi fulfilled the Sardar patel’s dream with the launch of the dam, for which foundation was laid by Jawaharlal Nehru.
11.53am: The dam will help irrigate 22 lkah hectare land, says Gadkari.
11.50am: Water resources, river development minister Nitin Gadkari congratulates the people of four states on the inauguration of Sardar Savodar dam in Gujarat.
11.40am: PM Modi will lay foundation stone for ‘National Tribal Freedom Fighters’ Museum.
11.35am: PM Narendra Modi reviews construction work of Statue of Unity in Kevadia.
11.23am: Activist Medha Patkar leads Jal Satyagraha in the rising waters of Narmada at Chota Barda Ghat in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh.
10.53am: President Ram Nath Kovind greets the people of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh on completion of Sardar Sarovar Dam, says it fulfils a dream.
Congratulations to the four state governments for working together in harmony for this important national project 2/2 #PresidentKovind
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) September 17, 2017
10.40am: “Both Gujarat and MP governments worked hard to make the Sardar Sarovar Dam a reality,” tweets Chouhan. “Agriculture in both states will get a boost.”
10.38am: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulates the people of Gujarat and its CM Vijay Rupani on the inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Dam.
10.30am: PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Sardar Sarovar Dam.
10.22am: PM Modi reaches Kevadia to inaugurate Sardar Sarovar Dam.
9.37am: PM Narendra Modi is travelling from Dabhoi to Kevadia by road to inaugurate Sardar Sarovar Dam
9.35am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chopper has landed in Dabhoi due to unfavorable weather in Kevadia
9.15am: According to Sardar Sarovar Project officials, the project will irrigate 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.
9.12am: A special allocation of 0.86 million cubic feet (MAF) of water has been made to provide drinking water to Gujarat’s 131 urban centres and 9,633 villages – which is 53% of the total 18,144 villages in the state.
Know the dam
*The foundation of the inter-state project was laid in 1961. But its further construction was delayed mainly because of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) led by activist Medha Patkar over rehabilitation of the affected families in Madhya Pradesh from the mid 1980s onwards.
FIFTY-SIX YEARS IN THE MAKING◼ 1961: Sardar Sarovar Project was given go-ahead by PM Jawaharlal NehruW◼ 1979: Foundation laid
◼ 1985: World Bank agrees to fund the project
◼ 1987: Construction begins
◼ 1989: Narmada Bachao Andolan launched over rehabilitation and environmental issues
◼ 1993: World Bank withdraws funding
◼ 1994: SC halts construction
◼ 1999: SC nod to restart
◼ 2014: The NDA government gives nod to install gates to achieve maximum height
* The construction work was suspended in 1994 after NBA activists obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court, which highlighted environmental and rehabilitation issues.
* The work resumed after the SC gave an order in 1999 in favour of the construction with the condition to increase that dam height in phases based on the progress of resettlement.
* Narmada Control Authority allowed closure of the dam’s sluice gates so that the water rises to its full height of 138.68 metres from the earlier 121.92 metres.
* The storage capacity also rose to 4.73 million cubic metres (MCM) from the previous 1.27 MCM.
