GANGA 53rd Issue | Page 8

and the consequent requirement of release
from the Narmada Sagar dam was also spelt
Narmada River dispute:

out. The resettlement and rehabilitation

The dispute over Narmada River water share

package was also clearly specified with all

has a long history. It has a huge water

costs to be borne by Govt. of Gujarat for the

3

resource potential such as 40.96 km of

people of affected three states and also for

average annual flow, which is greater than

relocating

the combined annual flows of the Ravi, Beas

monuments, places of worship or idols

and Sutlej rivers, feeding the Indus basin.

likely to suffer submergence.

There was a great dispute among the states

Table of water allocation

of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra

State

any

ancient

Allocated

or

historic

share of

and Rajasthan on the sharing of Narmada

share

river water, when utilizable flow was in

water(km3)

of power

excess of 35 km3. After many discussions

M.P

22.51

57%

and deliberatious , Govt. of India decided to

Gujarat

11

16%

set up the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal

Maharashtra

0.31

27%

on 6th Oct.1969 to adjudicate on the dispute

Rajasthan

0.62

0%

relating to sharing of water of the interstate
Narmada and its valley.

Total - 34.44 (say 35 km3) --------100%

The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal gave

The uniqueness of this Tribunal Award is

its award considering the development of

that a drought prone state like Rajasthan has

water resources of the basin allocating share

also been allocated a share of Narmada

of water and hydropower of the Sardar

water for meeting the water requirements of

Sarovar Project.

districts like Barmer , and Jalore, which

The Tribunal’s final order determined the

have no other source of dependable water.

utilizable quantum of Narmada waters to be

(to be continued)

3

33 km at 75% dependability and allocated it
to the four states, as in Table below. The
Navagam dam height was fixed at full
reservoir level of 140 m. The full supply

Editor- Sujit Choudhury, Published by

level of the Navagam Canal was fixed at 91

IRBMS

m.The cost sharing formula among the states

Management Society)

(©

Integrated

River

Basin

8

Integrated River Basin Management Society