After a wait of eight long years, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) on Thursday allowed the Gujarat government to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam from 121.92 metre to 138 metre. The decision was taken after a meeting of the NCA with the Union water resources minister on Thursday. A decision on raising the height of the dam has been pending since 2006.
While the Gujarat government has welcomed the move, activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar has slammed it. The Supreme Court had already given its approval to raise the height to 138.72 metre.
Welcoming the move, Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel said in Junagadh, ?The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has given the approval to raise the height of the dam to 138 metre.?
Gujarat health minister Nitin Patel said, ?Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel will perform a puja and initiate the work at Kevadiya. However, we will start the construction work only by September, when the monsoon is over.?
?We have to build concrete pillars on the dam and put up gates. Already the construction of dam up to the level of 121.92 metre has completed. The gates are ready, but the entire process to install gates and raise the height will take at least two years,? he said.
There were, however, also signs of protest. Reacting to the decision, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said, ?The decision is undemocratic and amounts to injustice to the people living in the submergence area.? She said the long-pending issue of rehabilitation of the project-affected tribals in Maharashtra be settled before raising the height.
