Interesting facts about Sardar Sarovar Dam

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam the foundation stone of which was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961 and the construction of which began in 1987. 

This project on the Narmada River is the third highest concrete dam in India and the Sardar Sarovar Dam is the second biggest dam in the world after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States.

The Sardar Sarovar project is the biggest dam in terms of volume of concrete used and 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.

The length of the dam is 1.2 km and it is 163 metres deep. Till date it has 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.

A government spokesperson informed that the dam has earned over Rs 16,000 crore which is more than double the cost of its construction. Each gate of the dam weighs over 450 tonnes and it takes one hour to close them. 

The power generated from the dam would be shared among three states, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat of which 57 per cent will be given to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh will get 27 per cent, and Gujarat gets 16 per cent.

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.