ABSTRACT
Philippe Cullet The Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) is part of a gigantic scheme seeking to build more than 3,000 dams, including 30 big dams, on the river Narmada, a 1,312 km river flowing westwards from Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, touching Maharashtra and ending its course in Gujarat. The SSP is a multi-purpose dam and canal system whose primary rationale is to provide irrigation and drinking water. Power generation is another expected benefit. It is the second biggest of the proposed dams on the Narmada, and its canal network is projected to be the largest in the world. The dam is situated in the state of Gujarat, which will derive most of the benefits of the project, but the submergence – 37,533 hectares in total – is primarily affecting the state of MP (55 per cent) and to a much lesser extent the state of Maharashtra.
