Sardar Sarovar Dam

The dam is built across the Narmada River in Gujarat, near Kevadia (now Ekta Nagar). It is the principal structure of the Sardar Sarovar Project, which also includes a network of canals and power facilities. The Government of Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. describes it as part of a multipurpose development programme intended to support irrigation, drinking-water supply and hydroelectric generation across the Narmada basin. The project’s benefits and water-sharing arrangements involve Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

The official project description gives the dam’s height as 163 metres and the full reservoir level as 138.68 metres. It describes hydroelectric facilities with a combined installed capacity of 1,450 megawatts, using riverbed and canal-head powerhouses. The project also includes the Narmada Main Canal, which carries water from the reservoir system toward areas served by the scheme. Such figures describe different project components and operating levels; the structural height is not the same as the reservoir’s full-reservoir level.

Planning for development of the Narmada’s water resources began decades before construction. Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone for the project on 5 April 1961. Disagreements among basin states over sharing water and project benefits led the Government of India to establish the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal in 1969; its final award was delivered in 1979. Construction of the main dam began in 1987. The height was raised in stages under approvals and oversight involving the Narmada Control Authority and its subgroups, with the dam reaching its designed height in 2017, according to the project authority.

The project has prompted sustained legal and public debate about the effects of reservoir submergence, displacement, resettlement and environmental management. In its 2000 judgment in Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India, the Supreme Court permitted construction to proceed in stages while directing continued monitoring and requiring relief and rehabilitation to be implemented alongside increases in dam height. The project authority describes the creation of a resettlement agency and subsequent rehabilitation measures; independent reporting and advocacy groups have also documented criticism that resettlement remained incomplete during key stages. The project’s history is therefore best understood through both its stated water and power objectives and the contested social and environmental consequences.

Sardar Sarovar is part of a larger system of dams, canals and water-management infrastructure in the Narmada basin. Descriptions of its height, reservoir level, canal length, power capacity and service area refer to different measurements or components and should not be treated as interchangeable. Claims about benefits or impacts also depend on the time period, location and communities considered; official project information and court records provide important documentation, while independent sources offer additional perspectives on disputes and implementation.