With 45-year allocation period ending in December, Gujarat to push for bigger share of Narmada waters
PTC News Desk: The 45-year allocation term is scheduled to finish on December 12, and Gujarat is anticipated to request a higher share of the Narmada River resources from Madhya Pradesh, citing soaring demands for agriculture and industry, according to two officials of the western state. The authorities emphasised that the reason behind the drive is Gujarat's 'consistent full utilisation' of its share, whereas, Madhya Pradesh has been utilising less than half of its quota.
In December 1979, the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) divided the river waters among four states. Gujarat requested 22.02 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water, of which 20.73 MAF was needed for irrigation in order to cover 126.26 lakh hectares of gross command area.
Up to 71.38 lakh hectares of the land needed irrigation. A further MAF was requested for industrial and drinking water use, taking 2001 estimates into account.
At first, Madhya Pradesh asked for 24.079 MAF, of which 23.279 MAF were for irrigation and 0.80 MAF were for domestic and commercial use. The demands and the final allotment made in December 1979 were very different.
For a 45-year period, the NWDT allotted 18.25 MAF to Madhya Pradesh, 9 MAF to Gujarat, 0.50 MAF to Rajasthan, and 0.25 MAF to Maharashtra based on catchment area, areas affected by scarcity, and contribution to river flow. Since then, the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has decided how much to allocate each year using this formula.
Madhya Pradesh, according to a government official in Gujarat, has been utilising less than 10 MAF on average. "Gujarat needs eight or nine more MAF." We intend to present our demand to the tribunal following the conclusion of the December deadline.
Gujarat used 9.21 MAF of the 11.27 MAF allotted to it in 2022–2023 (NCA). Only 8.84 MAF of Madhya Pradesh's 22.85 MAF quota was used. Madhya Pradesh has consistently underutilised its resources, according to officials. Out of 24.61 MAF, it consumed 9.39 MAF in 2020–21. Officials from Gujarat said that the western state had utilised all of its allotted funds and occasionally more.
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A state official stated that as the state gets ready to apply for more water, it must take effective flood management into consideration. In September 2023, Madhya Pradesh experienced heavy rainfall, which led to the opening of several dam gates.
To carry out the tribunal's orders, the NCA—an interstate body comprising members from four states as well as the federal government—was founded in December 1980.
One of the river's most important features is the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat's Kevadia. It is India's third-highest concrete dam and an engineering marvel. It is the third-highest concrete volume globally for gravity dams, with a spillway discharge capacity of 30.7 lakh cusecs, ranking second globally.
When Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat in June 2004, the dam's height had been increased to 110.64 meters. The installation of gates on the Narmada dam was one of the pending clearances that was expedited when Modi became prime minister in 2014.
For the management of water in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, the dam has proven essential. In 1961, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru set the groundwork for it. The sluice gates were closed in 2017 by NCA, enabling the reservoir to reach its maximum height of 138.68 meters. Afterwards, Modi dedicated the finished dam later that year.
The future discussions over the redistribution of Narmada waters, according to officials, will have a significant impact on how the region is managed for many years to come. They also mentioned that the four states involved in the reallocation will experience changes in their general growth, industry, and agriculture.
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- With inputs from agencies
