MP minister says Sardar Sarovar Dam was filled early for Modi’s birthday

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bala Bachchan alleged on Tuesday that the Sardar Sarovar Dam had been filled to its full reservoir level ahead of schedule so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday could be celebrated at the site. He said the move disrupted relief and rehabilitation in submerged parts of the state.

The minister’s claim

Modi, who turned 69 that day, travelled to Kevadiya in Gujarat in the morning for the ‘Namami Narmada’ festival, organised by the Gujarat government to mark the reservoir reaching 138.68 metres.

Speaking to reporters in Bhopal, Bachchan said the Narmada Control Authority’s timetable had set mid-October for the dam to reach full level, but it was filled about a month earlier. He said this had upset work in the affected areas of four Madhya Pradesh districts.

He said it would have been better had the Prime Minister focused on people in the state hit by the dam’s backwaters and approved immediate relief for them. He added that the Centre had earlier promised proper rehabilitation, a promise he said remained unmet.

Protests by affected villagers

Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said on Monday that residents of nearly 178 villages in Barwani, Dhar, Alirajpur and Khargone districts were affected, and that a protest would be held in Barwani during the birthday celebrations. The NBA wants the dam’s gates opened at once because the backwaters have partly or fully flooded those villages.

Background

Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister, laid the project’s foundation stone 56 years before its gates were shut on June 17, 2017. On Sunday evening the water level touched 138.68 m, its highest since the dam’s height was raised in 2017.

See also: political leaders.

Originally published on 17 September 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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