Gujarat: Two years after installation, 22 gates of Sardar Sarovar Dam opened

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The Riverbed Powerhouse (RBPH)at the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river, came to life after two years on Friday as the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam authorities opened the 22 gates of the dam first time after its installation in 2017, to maintain the water level in the dam at 131.18 metres. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have been arguing over the shutting down of power production from the RBPH after the political regime changed in the neighbouring state.

With 2017 and 2018 being rain deficit years and the dam reservoir not filling to its brim the RBPH had remained shut. The RBPH has a 1200MW capacity while the canal bed powerhouse has a 250 MW capacity the output of which is shared by the states of MP, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the ratio of 57:27:16.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel were present as well. The dam has been receiving an average inflow of 6 lakh cusecs of water. Around 1 lakh cusecs of water were released on Friday morning.

Low lying villages in Narmada and villages in Bharuch and Vadodara on the banks of the river have been put on alert. With the heavy inflows in the dam, 1200 MW river bed powerhouse was started after a gap of two years.

“We hope that the top possible level of water, 138 meters in the Sardar Sarovar Dam will be achieved in the next couple of months as we are sure that the inflow at this steady-state will continue for the next one month. The water from here can be now diverted into rivers, ponds and Khari canal for both irrigation and drinking purpose and the water can be made available at distance up to 300-400 km,” Rupani said while interacting with the media persons.

“With abundant rainfall in the last few days, our major problem related to scarcity is over and the forecast for good rainfall still continues,” Rupani said.

Heavy rains continued to lash districts of Central Gujarat since Thursday night. After incessant rains in Vadodara, level of the Ajwa Dam continued to be at 211 feet while the Vishwamitri was flowing at 22 feet, 4 feet below its danger mark. Meanwhile, Chhota Udepur recorded the highest rainfall in a day for the district so far, with 1166 mm rainfall in a single day. The district has received 368 mm rainfall since 6 am in the morning. Sukhi dam in the district is at 146.71 feet just one foot below its danger level of 147.82 feet. While the Rami Dam in Kawant is overflowing after the taluka received 334 mm rainfall in a single day. The dam’s level at present is 196.35 feet s against the overflow mark at 196.80 feet.