|
Sardar
Sarovar Project
Narmada basin is the
subject of one of the largest basin development schemes in the world. The
Sardar Sarovar Project in
Narmada basin,
India, is
one the most ambitious but controversial projects of recent times. In view of
the immense importance, the salient features of the project, its benefits,
environmental impacts and opposition are described in detail in the following.
Tapping the resources of the Narmada
has been the dream of political leaders and development planners for decades.
Large parts of
Gujarat and Rajasthan face
recurrent droughts and there have been instances when water had to be
transported by trains to save the people from famine. The idea of constructing
dams on the Narmada
River
was first suggested in 1946. For quite some time, this idea could not
materialize because the states did not agree on the distribution of the river
water. The then Prime Minister of India, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the
foundation stone for the Sardar
Sarovar dam, a multipurpose project which is the
terminal dam of the basin-wide scheme in 1961. This project was delayed and in
1965, a committee was appointed by the Government of India to prepare a detailed
plan for the development of the
Narmada basin.
The committee recommended the construction of a dam and a canal in
Gujarat and twelve major
projects in Madhya Pradesh. The two principal dams proposed were the
Indira Sagar Dam and the
Sardar Sarovar. The recommendations of the
committee were endorsed by the Government of Gujarat but rejected by the
Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Subsequently in 1969, the issue was referred to the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal which was established under
India’s
Interstate Water Disputes Act of 1956. The Tribunal considered the issues for a
decade and made its final award in 1979.
This award, which provides for diversion of 11,718.25 million m3
(9.5 million acre-feet, MAF) of water from the reservoir into a canal and
irrigation system, has formed the basis for construction of the current
Sardar Sarovar Project. Finances for this ambitious project were
secured in 1985 when the World Bank entered into credit and loan agreements with
the Governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
It provided U.S. $ 450 million for the construction of the dam and the canal.
The construction of the dam began in earnest in 1987. Another major project
under construction upstream of Sardar
Sarovar is the Indira Sagar project.
Sardar Sarovar
Project is a multipurpose interstate project of 4 States (Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat,
Maharashtra and
Rajasthan) being implemented by Govt. of Gujarat. It is an ambitious and
technologically complex irrigation scheme which is to draw upon the flow of the
Narmada
River
to alleviate the water needs of large areas of the state of
Gujarat. The project, which is one of the
largest water resource projects ever undertaken in
India,
includes a dam, a riverbed powerhouse, a main canal, a canal powerhouse, and an
irrigation network. Its projected impact extends over a large area, and it will
potentially affect 25-40 million people. The components of the project are
designed to irrigate a vast area of Gujarat
and Rajasthan (although not a basin state, was also later allocated a share of
its waters), and to provide drinking water to areas of central and northern
Gujarat.
The water is to be delivered by creating a storage reservoir on the
Narmada
River
with a full reservoir level of 138.684 m (455 feet), along with an extensive
canal and irrigation system.
The project comprises construction of a 163 m high and 1,200 m
long concrete gravity dam across
Narmada
River
near village Kevadia of Distt. Baroda. The top of the dam will be at 146.5 m and the spillway crest
level at 121.92 m. The M.W.L. of the Dam is EL 140.21 m. The live storage
capacity of the reservoir will be 5,800 MCM. The 458 km long lined canal will
irrigate 17.92 lakh hectares of land in
Gujarat and
will also provide 616 MCM share of water to Rajasthan. The installed capacity of
the Bed River Power House is 120 MW and that of Canal Head Power House is 250
MW. The project will also cater domestic water supply needs of 135 towns and
8,215 villages of Gujarat.
At the SSP dam, the maximum spillways
discharge capacity is 84,950 cumec. There are 23 bays
in the main spillway whose crest gates are 18.30 m x 16.76 m. In the auxiliary
spillway, there are 7 bays with radial crest gates of size 18.30 m x 18.30 m.
Design storms recommended for Sardar
Sarovar
|
No. of day/Date
|
Depth in mm
|
|
1st day (28.08.1973)
|
28.0
|
|
2nd day (29.08.1973)
|
63.0
|
|
3rd day (30.08.1973)
|
80.0
|
|
4th day (05.09.1970)
|
61.0
|
|
5th day (06.09.1970)
|
72.0
|
Source: NIH
The dam is being constructed
in a hilly region, and the reservoir created behind the dam will resemble a
narrow lake extending from the dam over 200 km upstream, submerging
approximately 37,533 ha of land in three states: Gujarat, Maharashtra,
and Madhya Pradesh. Out of this, 11,300 ha is
agricultural, 13,385 ha forest land, and the rest consists of river bed and
waste land. While the full impact of the project remains in dispute, it is
generally acknowledged that 248 villages will be submerged (33 villages of
Maharashtra, 19 of
Gujarat, and rest in MP) mostly partially, affecting about
100,000 people. Many of these people, especially in
Gujarat and
Maharashtra, are considered to be ‘tribals’
and have no formal title to their land.
The number of families likely to be effected due to submergence, based
upon 1991 census, are estimated as 40,727; out of these 33,014 are in Madhya
Pradesh. Gujarat will be required to resettle 14,124 families of
Madhya Pradesh in the command area of the project in
Gujarat. The remaining 18,890 families will be resettled in Madhya Pradesh.
A large number of farmers,
about 140,000 according to an estimate, will lose land to the canal and
irrigation systems. In addition,
thousands of people living downstream will find their lives affected by the
project. Weigh this up against the benefits: irrigation of 1.8 million ha,
1,450 MW of hydroelectric power, drinking water to 135 towns and 8,215 villages
(some of these suffer frequent droughts), flood protection for 210 villages
with an aggregate population of 750,000 and other less important benefits. The
area that will be submerged is about 1.65% of the area that will get benefits.
The ratio of population displaced to the population benefited is 1:37. Generation of wealth in an area also contributes to
general economic development of the area.
The Narmada main canal will be the largest of its kind in the
world, extending 450 km to the Rajasthan border and crossing 19 major rivers
and 244 railway lines or roads. With 31
branch canals, the aggregate length of the distribution system will be 75,000
km which will require approximately 80,000 hectares of land. The main canal will be 250 meters wide at the
head and 100 m wide at the border: the capacity of this canal system is such
that it will be able to empty the proposed reservoir storage in less than two
months. The canal will also transport
Narmada water to Saurashtra and
Kutch region of
Gujarat which are
drought prone areas. Many wild life sanctuaries and parks will get water from
the project.
Only one-sixth of the project
cost is for construction of the dam. An additional equal amount is required for
hydro-power installation at the dam and canal bed powerhouse. The other
one-third of the cost is for the main canal and the rest is for development of
the irrigation network in the command area. For different levels of irrigation
efficiency, the internal rate of return was between 16.77 and 21.88 on economic
prices of the inputs and outputs and the corresponding benefit-cost ratios
between 1.59 and 3.29 (Chitale, 1997). The acceptable
levels are 9 and 1, respectively.
The Controversy
The complexity of this
project allows for considerable dispute about how to best calculate and compare
the projected costs and anticipated benefits.
The project’s proponents emphasize the enormous benefits it is expected
to bring to millions of people at the cost of displacing comparatively
few. They ask that these projected
benefits – the provision of drinking water to as many as 40 million people and
the irrigation of 1.8 million hectares of land – be weighed against the
relatively small number of people who will be displaced from land. From their perspective this balance tilts
heavily in favour of the project.
The opponents of the
project question both the projected benefits and the cost of the project. They
argued that the irrigation benefits have been vastly overestimated and that
adequate drinking water may never reach the most needy
drought-prone areas of Gujarat, such as
Kutch. (It may be noted that water has already reached
drought prone areas of Gujarat and has considerably eased the situation). According
to them, the economic costs are based on unrealistic figures and have been
grossly underestimated. Also, the human
and environmental costs have been vastly underestimated or ignored by mis-reporting the number and the extent to which people
will be affected by the project, and disregarding the costs of cultural
disruption that will occur when tribal people are moved from their traditional
lands. In their opinion, the number of people to be affected must include those
living in the submergence area, those displaced by construction of
infrastructure, those affected by the canal, and those living downstream whose
lives and livelihoods will be affected. The reservoir submergence has ignored
the adverse effect on the forest cover.
In the Sardar
Sarovar Project, the major concern about compensation
has focussed on the category of people identified as
“oustee”. An oustee is an
individual “whether landed or landless, who since at least one year prior to
the date of publication of the notification under the relevant Indian Land
Acquisition Act, has been ordinarily residing, or cultivating land, or carrying
on any trade, occupation, or calling or working for gain in Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, and Maharashtra, who would be displaced from
his usual habitat due to the carrying out of the Project.” Two factors affect the compensation to which
the Sardar Sarovar Project oustee is entitled.
One is the assessment of an oustee’s right to
compensation, which is complicated by disparity between the way the government
administers, registers, and taxes land and the way people conceive of and use
resources. Secondly, the R&R
policies of the three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and
Maharashtra vary in the compensation they give to oustees. The policy of Gujarat is considered to be the most ‘lucrative’. Consequently, the oustees want the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to match their policies with those of
Gujarat.
The three states have
different norms for treatment of “major” sons (sons over the age of 18),
encroachers (those residing on and cultivating land to which they do not have
legal title), and the landless. The
Gujarat policy makes no distinction between landed and landless oustees and offers full benefits to major sons. According to the award of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal, all people displaced by
the Sardar Sarovar
reservoir have the right to settle in Gujarat, if they so desire. Naturally, so
long as Gujarat’s resettlement and rehabilitation benefits are
significantly better than those offered by the other two states, most displaced
people are apt to take this option. Hence, Madhya Pradesh resettlement plans
anticipate that only 10 percent of the displaced people from that state will
remain in the state. An unequal compensation is seen to violate the spirit of
the Tribunal Award which provides that all oustees
may remain in their home states. To do so under current policies would entail a
financial sacrifice for some, while relocation to
Gujarat would mean for many “a long cultural journey.” Therefore, while the right of choice still
exists in principle, the disparity in benefits means a choice between migration
to another state or a lower standard of living.
The concern of compensation
dominates the discussions of R&R; there are disagreements about what
constitutes full, fair, and appropriate compensation, and further disagreements
about whether all the oustees will or can be fully,
fairly, and appropriately compensated under prevailing circumstances. The
proponents argue that displacement should be treated as a development
opportunity and that project-affected people should not only regain their
standard of living but also be treated as the first beneficiaries of the
project. Clearly, high costs attached to
R&R reduce the cost-benefit ratio, making it more difficult to raise
political and financial support. Even in
cases where project benefits make it possible to offer attractive R&R
packages, high compensation is opposed by the decision-makers fearing that this
will set a precedent of high awards which could not be met by all future
projects. Note that the oustees mostly belong to
marginal and disempowered communities and R&R requires that all people
affected by the project must ‘improve or at least regain the standard of living
they were enjoying prior to their displacement’.
The Protests by NGO’s
Meanwhile, a number of Indian
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) began opposing the project, mainly on the
grounds of environmental, human (tribal) rights, the skewed economics of the
project, etc. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is the main opponent. They were later
joined by several foreign NGOs. Some NGOs, such as Action Research in Community Health Association (ARCH), who were
originally opposed to the project because of insufficient compensation for the
affected population, later accepted the improved measures and supported the
continuation of construction.
Originally, the campaign
against the Sardar Sarovar
Project revolved around resettlement issues. Earlier disagreement between the
states, mainly about water allocation and the height of the proposed dams, had been resolved amicably by the middle of 1974.
After certain clarifications, this was made an award by a Tribunal under the
Inter-State Water Disputes Act at the end of 1979. This Tribunal also set out a
resettlement and rehabilitation scheme which, at that time, was considered very
liberal though the World Bank insisted on even higher standards. Landless farm
laborers and so called "encroachers" were to receive 2 ha
compensation, often more than the area possessed by the communities among whom
they were to be resettled. It had been planned to resettle some of the
displaced people on degraded forest land. In the meantime a new "Forest
Conservation Act" had been passed in 1980, forbidding any forest land to
be diverted to other purposes, unless specifically sanctioned by the Central
Government. This led to a shortage of land needed for resettlement.
Gradually, NGOs started to
employ radical protest techniques, such as marches, hunger strikes, traffic
disruptions, and intimidation of those wanting to be resettled. They even
instituted a "mass drowning rather than relocate" campaign at the
first village threatened by the rising waters. Much was made of the fact that
many of the so called "oustees" were still
tribal. A lot of incitation of these relatively primitive people took place.
The proponents, however, claim that the tribal families have shown a desire to
avail of this development opportunity. The NGOs also started canvassing for
foreign support through newspaper articles, talks, and petitions to heads of
the governments, the UN, and the donor agencies. All this led to Japan
withdrawing its financial support to the project. The World Bank appointed an
Independent Review Mission, the first of its kind in the history of the Bank.
The report of this mission was interpreted variously by various people; it was
criticized by many, e.g., Alagh and Buch (1997), and apparently further complicated the matter.
After the World Bank withdrew from the project, the Government of India decided
to proceed without external help.
The opponents managed to
mobilize a substantial number of people in India and elsewhere against the
project, but a large scale popular support for it was shown by about a million
people turning up for a pro-project demonstration. Public issue of bonds was
floated by the Government of Gujarat to mobilize funds for the project. All the
issues were over-subscribed, showing public support to the project.
Project Status
More than 98% of the
excavation and 90% of concreting for the main dam were over by 2000. The matter
regarding the final height of the dam was considered by the Supreme Court of
India. On October 18, 2000, the Supreme Court of India delivered its judgment on
the Sardar Sarovar Project.
In a 2 to 1 majority judgment, it allowed immediate construction on the dam up
to a height of 90 m. Further, the judgment authorized construction up to the
originally planned height of 138 m in 5-meter increments subject to receiving
approval from the Relief and Rehabilitation Subgroup of the Narmada
Control Authority. In 2002 summer, the dam height was allowed to be raised to
95 m. By June 2004, construction of the dam up to EL 110.64 m was completed.
Canal head powerhouse has been completed and all five units of 50MW are ready.
With the lowest block of the dam attaining an elevation of 110m, 450,000 ha
area are receiving irrigation water and power generation will also commence. As
per the schedule, the project in all respects is expected to be completed by
2010.
First unit of riverbed
powerhouse is likely to begin work in 2006. Construction of
Narmada
Main
Canal up to 357 km is over. As per the plans, the dam is
expected to be completed to the EL 138.68 m (top of the dam) by 2006.
Water Supply through
Narmada
Canal
Major urban centers in Saurashtra region have been badly hit with underground
water level in most parts going down to 800 to 1,000 feet. Even at that level,
it is mostly brackish water. In summers, Rajkot city, the main nerve center of the Saurashtra region, gets just about a couple of hours supply
twice a week. Jamnagar city, the second largest in the region, gets once in
three days, and Junagarh every fourth day.
A huge pipeline network based
on the SSP’s main canal has been envisaged to supply
drinking water. The configuration of the system is shown in Figure 11.8 Only
790 of the total 8,215 villages to be given drinking water from the SSP are in Ahmedabad and the Panchmahals
districts. The rest are in Saurashtra,
Kutch and
North
Gujarat. Similarly, 120 towns from the total 135 to be
supplied drinking water are in the three regions. Twelve are in Ahmedabad
and three in the Panchmahals. Water from the Mahi and the Narmada rivers is to
be taken through a pipeline from the Pariyej lake in Kaira district where the water will flow through the Mahi canal and will be distributed at different points in
the Saurashtra region to supply 275 million litres of water per day to 1,625 villages and some towns in
Ahmedabad, Amreli, Bhavnagar and parts of Rajkot
districts.
An escape for Mahi Right Bank Canal (MRBC) had been created from Narmada main canal at chainage of
150 km. The branch canals named, Shedhi and Limbhasi take off from MRBC and end up at Pariej and Kaneval tanks,
respectively. A trunk line takes off from Pariej/Kaneval
reservoirs and reaches Pipli pumping station. The 103
km long Saurashtra Branch Canal (SBC) takes off from Narmada Main canal at chainage
256.88 km. A pumping station at Dhanki lifts water
from SBC at chainage 67 km and supplies it to Maliya Branch Canal (MBC). The total length of all trunk
pipelines is 2,722 km. The main pumping stations to lift water for the Narmada-Mahi based Saurashtra
pipeline projects are: two pumping stations at Pariej
and one at Kaneval. A well organized administrative
set up has been created for the drinking water supply projects. Pani Panchayats
are being created at village level and they are responsible for O&M of
village level facilities with technical assistance from Gujarat Water Supply
and Sewerage Board (GWSSB). A SCADA (Supervisory Control And
Data Acquisition) System for better control on O & M and running the system
with optimum efficiency is being planned.
Significantly,
the cumulative benefits of the project are not reflected in the dam’s command
area. At present 40 percent water from whatever little is received by all major
dams in Saurashtra – has to be reserved for drinking
water. Once that problem is taken care
of, more water will be available from these dams for irrigation. This way,
actually irrigation spread will improve, while the SSP is already going to
irrigate nearly 18 lakh ha of land.
Many websites contain
information about this project, for example, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. (www.sardarsarovardam.org),
Narmada Control Authority (www.nca.nic.in), Narmada
Valley Development Authority
http://www.nvda.nic.in/sardarsarovar.htm and an
NGO’s site
www.narmada.org/sardarsarovar.html.
Salient features of Sardar Sarovar Project.
|
Watershed area
above dam site
|
88,000 sq. km
|
|
Mean annual rainfall
|
1,120 mm
|
|
Annual run-off
at 50% dependability
|
4.10 M ha m
|
|
Annual run-off
at 75% dependability
|
3.36 M ha m
|
|
Annual run-off
at 90% dependability
|
2.44 M ha m
|
|
Designed flood
(1 in 1000 years)
|
87,000
cumec
|
|
RESERVOIR
|
|
Full Reservoir
Level (FRL)
|
138.68m
|
|
Maximum Water
Level
|
140.21m
|
|
Minimum Draw
Down Level
|
110.64m
|
|
Normal Tail
Water Level
|
25.91m
|
|
Gross Storage
Capacity
|
0.95 Million ha m
|
|
Dead Storage
Capacity
|
0.37 Million ha m
|
|
Live Storage
Capacity
|
0.58 Million ha m
|
|
Annual
evaporation
|
0.06 Million ha m
|
|
Land
Submergence at FRL
|
37,533 ha
|
|
Number of
villages affected at FRL
|
244
|
|
Number of
families affected at FRL
|
40,963
|
Indira Sagar Project (ISP)
The Indira
Sagar (also known as Narmada
Sagar) Project (Punasa, Khandwa District) is a multipurpose project of M.P. on the
Narmada
River upstream of Sardar Sarovar Project. Its importance arises from the fact that
the projects proposed downstream of it, i.e., Omkareshwar,
Maheshwar and Sardar Sarovar would be able to attain their full potential of
irrigation and power generation only after getting regulated releases from ISP.
The Indira Sagar Project
envisages construction of a 92 m high and 653 m long concrete gravity dam with
a surface power house of 1,000 MW installed capacity (8x125) and a 249 km
long canal to provide irrigation in 1.23 lakh ha
of C.C.A. in the districts of Khandwa and Khargone. On
completion, a reservoir of 9,744 MCM live storage capacity will be created.
Submergence is likely to affect 249 villages, 30,739 families, 40,332 ha of
forest and 510,016 ha of other lands. Compensatory afforestation
has to be done in 80,945 ha area and catchment area
treatment in 30 sub-catchments totaling 62,975 ha in the directly draining
area, chargeable to the project.
Salient features of Narmadasagar Project
|
Particulars
|
Details
|
|
Catchment area (km2)
|
61,880
|
|
Inflow
from immediate upstream (MCM)
|
740.09
|
|
Gross
storage (MCM)
|
12,211.45
|
|
Live
storage (MCM)
|
9745.00
|
|
Dead
storage (MCM)
|
2467.00
|
|
Design
flood (cumec)
|
65,147
|
|
Maximum
water level (m)
|
263.35
|
|
Full
reservoir level (m)
|
262.13
|
|
Minimum
drawdown level (m)
|
245.06
|
Based on the analysis made by
NIH and after considering the possibilities of transposition and the different
alternate synthetic combination of storms for design purposes, the following
storms were recommended for Narmada Sagar which was agreed upon by IMD and CWC.
Design storms recommended for Narmada
Sagar
|
No. of day/Date
|
Depth in mm
|
|
1st day
(28.08.1973)
|
33.8
|
|
2nd day (29.08.1973)
|
100.6
|
|
3rd day
(30.08.1973)
|
99.8
|
|
4th day
(15.07.1944)
|
90.2
|
Source: NIH
Omkareshwar
Project
The Omkareshwar
multipurpose project is situated downstream of ISP on the main
Narmada
River, near village Mandhata,
District Khandwa. The project envisages construction
of a 53 m high and 949 m long concrete dam with gated spillways to irrigate
1.468 lakh ha of C.C.A. through a 142 km long L.B.C.
and a 64 km long R.B.C. and a 83 km lift canal. Riverbed powerhouse of 520 MW
installed capacity (8x65 MW) is proposed on the right bank and the annual
generation is likely to be 1166 MU in a 90% dependable year. The reservoir will
have approximately 300 MCM live storage capacity, the
submergence will affect 30 villages, 5,829 ha forestland, 4,059 ha of private
and revenue lands and 3,024 families. Compensatory afforestation
in 11,660 ha and catchment area treatment in 79,886
ha has to be done. The cost of the project at 2002 price level is estimated at Rs. 2,225 crore. The construction
work is in progress and is expected to be over by Feb. 2008. The power
component of project is being taken up by a joint venture with NHPC.
Salient features of Omkareshwar
Project
|
Particulars
|
Details
|
|
Catchment area (km2)
|
64,880
|
|
Inflow
from immediate upstream (MCM)
|
1,973.57
|
|
Gross
storage (MCM)
|
1,500.00
|
|
Live
storage (MCM)
|
811.63
|
|
Dead
storage (MCM)
|
688.28
|
|
Design
flood (cumec)
|
43,639
|
|
Maximum
water level (m)
|
202.7
|
|
Full reservoir level (m)
|
201.2
|
|
Minimum
drawdown level (m)
|
193.5
|
Maheshwar Hydel Project
(M.P.)
The Maheshwar hydel project, located about 40 km downstream of Omkareshwar multi-purpose project on the main Narmada near Mandleshwar town of
Madhya Pradesh, envisages construction of a 35 m high concrete dam
with a 670 m long spillway. The dam will
have earthen flanks on the left and right banks of lengths 1,573 m and 464 m,
respectively. There will be a surface
powerhouse of 400 MW (10x40 MW) on the right bank.
This project has been proposed in the private
sector and the work has been awarded to Shri Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation
Limited (SMHPCL). A power purchase agreement was signed between SMHPCL and MPEB
in 1994. The revised estimate of the
project has pegged to cost to Rs. 1,569 crores. The project
work is under progress.
Salient
features of Maheshwar Hydel
Project
|
Particulars
|
Details
|
|
Catchment area (km2)
|
69,184
|
|
Inflow from immediate
upstream (MCM)
|
2,797.53
|
|
Gross storage (MCM)
|
488.46
|
|
Live storage (MCM)
|
28.37
|
|
Dead storage (MCM)
|
462.55
|
|
Design flood (cumec)
|
49,695
|
|
Maximum water level (m)
|
164.9
|
|
Full reservoir level (m)
|
162.8
|
|
Minimum drawdown level
(m)
|
162.15
|
Rani
Avanti
Bai Sagar (Bargi) Project
Bargi (later renamed as Rani Avanti Bai
Sagar Project) is a major masonry earth scheme in the
head reaches of
Narmada
River. The project consists of the Bargi
dam on the Narmada
River near village Bargi in the
Jabalpur district 43 km away from
Jabalpur city. The latitude and longitude of the dam are 22º
56’ 30" N and 79º 55’ 30" E, respectively. The catchment
area up to dam site is 14,556 sq. km and the average annual rainfall in the catchment is 1,414 mm. It is a 69 m high and 5,337 m long
composite gravity dam completed in 1980’s. The maximum height of the masonry
dam is 69.80 m while that of earth dam is 29 m. The catchment
area at the dam site is 14,556 sq. km. The gross, live and dead storage
capacity of the reservoir is 3.92 billion cubic meter (B Cum), 3.18 B Cum and
0.740 B Cum respectively. The maximum water level, full reservoir level and the
dead storage level of the reservoir are at 425.70 m, 422.76 m and 403.55 m,
respectively. The estimated life of the reservoir is 100 years.
The project has been
envisaged as a multipurpose scheme meant to serve for water supply for domestic
and industrial purposes, irrigation and hydropower generation. One canal system
(left bank canal system) is nearing completion and one power plant (River bed
power plant) of 2 units of 45 MW each has already been completed for utilizing
the stored water of the Bargi reservoir. It has a
firm power of 45 MW. The left bank canal takes off from the left flank of the Bargi dam and covers a distance of 137.2 km. The design
capacity of the canal is 124.65 cumec. The command
area under Bargi LBC lies in Jabalpur and Narsinghpur districts
of Madhya Pradesh. There are 4 branch canals, 11 distributaries, 16 minors and
4 sub-minors serving the complete command.
The
gross and culturable command area of the left bank
canal is 2.574 and 1.57 lakh ha, respectively. Other
canal system (right bank canal system) is under construction. The purpose of
the right bank canal is to transport 116 M Cum of water for domestic use and
around 2,300 M Cum of water for irrigation and interbasin
transfer annually. One power house (Canal power house) with a capacity of 15 MW
is also proposed to be constructed in the left bank canal system. Annual water
requirement from the reservoir through the left bank canal for domestic water
supply and irrigation is 54 M Cum and 2,160.1 M Cum, respectively. In addition,
annual firm energy requirement from the reservoir is 363 Mkwhr.
It has a firm power of 45 MW.
The
peak of the design flood hydrograph is 51,510 cumec.
According to the reservoir operation manual for the Bargi
dam, no provision is made for flood moderation by operation of this dam. The
length of river channel between the Bargi dam and the
Hoshangabad city is approximately 265 km. For
discharging excess water during the flood season, a 385.72 m long spillway has
been provided in the centre of the masonry section. 21 nos. of radial gates of
size 13.71 m length and 15.25 m height have been provided on this spillway. The
shape of overflow section of the spillway has been designed to conform to the
shape of lower nappe of water flowing over a sharp
crested vertical edge. The spillway has been designed to pass a flood
hydrograph having the base period of 7 days and peak inflow of 45,296 cumec. The design flood hydrograph is based on the unit
hydrograph concept. The maximum water level at the Bargi
dam site has been limited to 424.28 m because of the Mandla
township upstream of the Bargi
dam.
The water availability at the
dam site was estimated based on the discharge data at the Jamtara
gauge site. The Jamtara gauge site is located 16 km
downstream of the Bargi dam site and has a catchment area of 16,576 sq. km. Systematic gauging has
been done at this site since 1949. The average annual inflow at the dam site is
7,197 M Cum. There are 13 raingauge stations in the catchment area. In some of the raingauge
stations, rainfall data for nearly 89 years has been recorded. The average
annual rainfall in the catchment up to Jamtara is 1,414 mm. Rainfall in the basin mostly occurs
during the monsoon months (July to October). During monsoon, 94.09% of the
total rainfall of the calendar year occurs.
The reservoir has been
classified as hilly. The shape of the reservoir is almost longitudinal. Its
longest periphery from the axis is about 80 km. The width at 16 km and 25 km
from the axis is 16 km and 3.2 km, respectively.
Tawa Dam
The first major work to be undertaken in the
Narmada basin was the Tawa Project.
The Tawa project was constructed in 1974 on the
Tawa
River near village Ranipur in Hoshangabad district. Tawa is a
left bank tributary of
Narmada
River and the catchment area up
to dam site is 5,983 sq. km. The dam is operated to supply water for irrigation
and municipal uses. The average annual
rainfall for the catchment is 1,564 mm. and the 75%
dependable flow is 3,075 MCM. The gross
storage capacity at FRL (355.397 m) is 2,310 MCM while the live storage
capacity is 2,050 MCM. The maximum water
level for this dam is 356.66 m. The peak of design flood hydrograph for the dam
is 36800 cumec. The actual observed maximum flood was
24,300 cumec in 1961.
It is a composite dam of
earth and masonry 1,630 m long with two dykes of 185 m length each and of a
maximum height of 57.95 m. The gross
storage in the reservoir is 2,311 m cu. m of which the live storage is 2,087 m
cu. m. The dam is operated to supply
water for irrigation and municipal uses. There are canals, one on each
bank. The left bank canal is 120 km and
the right bank canal 76.85 km long. The
total irrigation is expected to be of the order of 331,854 ha. The project will
provide irrigation to about 121,406 ha in the first phase. There is a facility
to generate hydropower through a power house with installed capacity of 13 MW.
Waterlogging study in Tawa basin was
made by NIH in 1988. The results show that an area of 80 sq. km was affected by
waterlogging and about 140 sq. km area where water
table lies in between depth of 1 to 3 m was prone to waterlogging.
It is suggested that periodic assessment of waterlogging
using remotely sensed data should be carried out on a regular basis.
Barna Dam
The dam is located near
village Bari of Tehsil Bareli (near National Highway 12, connecting
Bhopal to
Jabalpur) in Raisen district and was
completed in 1978. It is located on Barna
River which is a right bank tributary of
Narmada
River. The total catchment area
of the dam is 1,176 sq. km. The gross storage capacity at FRL (348.55 m) is
539.00 MCM and the live storage capacity is 455.80 MCM. Barna
dam is 432 m long and 47.7 m high at the deepest section. The main canal will
be 38 km long and it will irrigate 60,290 ha. The design flood of the dam is
13,557 cumec. The maximum discharge observed at the
dam site in 1965 was 11,480 cumec.
Barna project is an irrigation project of Madhya Pradesh.
On the right of the main dam, there is a saddle dam from which a 0.67m long
joint water carrying canal emerges. From this canal two branch canals take off
from the left and right banks for irrigating the command area falling on its
left and right banks, respectively. The irrigation infrastructure has greatly
improved the irrigation potential in the command and benefited the farmers.
The project does not provide
flood protection. However, through
judicious and cautious reservoir operation, peaks can be moderated to some
extent to subside the damage and submergence of life and properties in the downstream
of the dam site, especially near Barlei township.
Kolar Dam
Kolar dam has been constructed near the
Lawakheri
Village. It has a gross storage capacity of 270 MCM and live
storage of 260 MCM. Water from the reservoir is being used to provide drinking
water to the city of Bhopal which lies at a distance of 30 km towards north.
Water from the dam is envisaged to provide irrigation to an area of 610 million
sq. m. For this purpose, a barrage has
been constructed in the basin near Jholiapur from
where two canals take off.
In
addition to the above projects, there are some other small projects and
projects are under construction.
|