Sardar Sarovar Dam is the largest dam to be built over the
Narmada River in
Gujarat. As per the original plans, the dam was supposed to have a height of 136.5 m. However owing to numerous opposition from various environmental and human rights group, who believed that the loss due to the project far outweighed the benefits, and the subsequent supreme court orders, the dam’s height is currently limited to 90 m. Additional increase in the height depends on further court orders.
The proposed catchments area of the Sardar Sarovar Dam is around 88,000 sq. km. Some of these irrigated lands fall in the neighboring state of Rajasthan. The length of the reservoir is 214 km. The maximum width measures 16 km, while the average width is around 2 km. The basic purpose of this dam was to provide water to the drought prone regions of Kutch and Saurashtra. Part of the funding for the construction was done by the World Bank.
