The water level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadiya in Narmada district reached its highest capacity at 138.68 metres on Sunday evening. To celebrate the feat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to be present at the dam site on September 17, which also happens to be his 69th birthday.
The water level of the dam reached the historic height of 138 metres, just 68 centimetres short of its full capacity mark on Saturday. The water level is expected to reach the full capacity mark on September 17, coinciding with PM Modi's birthday. PM Modi will be present at Sardar Sarovar dam to witness the milestone of achieving full reservoir capacity of 138.68 metres.
The dam aims to provide drinking water to 131 urban centres and 9,633 villages (53 per cent of total 18,144 villages in Gujarat) and irrigation facilities for 18.54 hectares of land, covering 3,112 villages in 15 districts.
According to Zee News, the prime minister will reach Ahmedabad airport at 11 pm on September 16, and will be received by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Governor Acharya Devvrat. After the spending the night at Raj Bhawan in Gandhinagar, PM Modi would on Tuesday morning visit his mother, Heeraben Modi, and take her blessings. Following this, PM Modi would reach Kevadia at 5 am on Tuesday to perform Narmada Aarti to river Narmada and take part in 'Namami Devi Narmade festival', which is being organised across the state to mark filling up of the dam to its full capacity. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and others will accompany the prime minister.
The dam was inaugurated by PM Modi on September 17, 2017. Earlier, various reasons delayed its completion. After its foundation stone was laid in 1961, there was a dispute between Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh on sharing of the Narmada river water and electricity.
