Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) concerns Narmada River, the river of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. With 87% of its

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

lying in Madhya Pradesh, it becomes all the more important for the state to exploit this enormous water resource. It was with this motto in mind that the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) was formed by the government of MP on 9 August 1985. NVDA oversees all major development projects in the Narmada Basin. The body also ensures that proper rehabilitation is provided to the displaced, and the negative impacts on environment are minimized by taking appropriate measures.

History

Narmada being one of the major rivers in Central India, there has been a large number of studies aiming at exploiting the abundant water resource. This has also led to various disputes between

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, the three states through which a major portion of Narmada flows. One such dispute was regarding the construction of Navagam dam in

, which would submerge areas in

and

. To resolve the dispute between the states in sharing the Narmada water, the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal was formed by the Government of India in 1969. In 1979, 10 years after its formation, Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal awarded 18.25 Million Acre Feet (MAF) out of the total 27 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water to

. This was however under the condition that the state has to completely utilize the allocated water by 2025. If it failed to do so, the un-utilized water will be reallocated to other states.

government formed Narmada Valley Development Authority in 1985 to oversee the progress of the projects being planned in the Narmada Basin.

Narmada Basin

Narmada is the fifth largest river in India. It is also the largest West flowing river in India, with a total length of 1312 km. Known as the 'Life Line of Madhya Pradesh', 87% of Narmada lies in Madhya Pradesh, covering the districts Shahdol, Balaghat, Rajnandgaon, Mandla, Seoni, Dindori, Katni, Jabalpur, Damoh, Sagar, Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Betul, Hoshangabad, Harda, Raisen, Sehore, Khandwa, Indore, Dewas, Khargone, Dhar, Jhabua & Barwani. Besides Madhya Pradesh, the river also flows through minor parts of

and

. Narmada has a potential of irrigating over of land along with a capacity to generate about 3 gigawatts of

hydro electric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power. Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) had allocated fixed share of water for each of the four states as follows: Each state has to utilize its share of water allocated by 2025, when failing, it will get reallocated to other states. So as to completely utilize the allocated share of water of 18.25 MAF, Madhya Pradesh government came up with 29 major, 135 medium and over 3,000 minor projects which are scheduled to be completed by 2025. Table below provide details on the major dams and canals being planned on the Narmada Basin by NVDA Location Plan of projects in Narmada basin

Location Plan of projects in Narmada basin

Major Projects

Indira Sagar Project

The Indirasagar Dam is a multipurpose key project on the Narmada River at Narmadanagar in the

Khandwa district Khandwa district, formerly known as the East Nimar district, is a district of the Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The city of Khandwa is the administrative headquarters of the district. Other notable towns in the district include Mundi, H ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The foundation stone of the project was laid by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

, former

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

, on 23 October 1984. Construction of the main dam started in 1992. The downstream projects of ISP are

Omkareshwar Omkareshwar ( IAST: ''Ōṃkārēśvar'') is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, located in Mandhata, nearby Khandwa city in Khandwa district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the 12 revered Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva. ce ...

Maheshwar Maheshwar is a town, near Khargone city in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh state, in central India. It is located on State Highway-38 ( Khargone city-Barwaha- Bandheri Highway),13.5 km east of National Highway 3 (Agra-Mumbai highway) a ...

and

Sardar Sarovar Project The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River in Navagam near the town of Kevadiya, Narmada District, in the state of Gujarat, India. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to four Indian states ...

. The project envisages construction of a 92 m high and 653 m long concrete

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

. It provides

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

for 1,230 square kilometers of land with annual production of 2700 million units in the districts of Khandwa and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh and power generation of 1000 MW installed capacity (8x125). The reservoir of live storage capacity was created. The dam, built as a joint venture between Madhya Pradesh Irrigation Project and

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation NHPC Limited (erstwhile National Hydroelectric Power Corporation ) is an Indian government hydropower board under the ownership of Ministry of Power, Government of India that was incorporated in the year 1975 with an authorised capital o ...

, is the source of the Indra Gandhi canal. It was commissioned in May 2005.NHPC Limited: Indira Sagar Power Station
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References

External links