Chandod: The boatmen at Chandod blame the damming of the Narmada for their current situation. Though the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) has been releasing 630 cusecs, the boatmen say this amount is not enough to wash away the sand that accumulates around the ‘triveni sangam’ and Chandod.
At the ‘triveni sangam’, the Orsang River and ‘gupt’ (hidden) Saraswati meet the Narmada. The Orsang reaches its heights in the monsoon with fresh water, but it also brings thousands of tonnes of sand that gets deposited in the Narmada riverbed.
“When the Sardar Sarovar dam’s height was low and it did not have gates, water flowed with a lot of force when it overflowed. This force carried away the sand deposited in the river. Now, as the gates have come up, enough water is not released and this causes the sand to remain in the riverbed at the ‘triveni sangam’ and Chandod,” said a boatman Jay Machhi.
The boatmen feel that if the river is not dredged, the sand will keep accumulating and the river will be reduced to a small stream in the summer. Only last year the Navik Shramjivi Mandal spent Rs 7 lakh to get the riverbed dredged, to protect their livelihoods.
