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Friday Jun 30 2000
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Indira Sagar project: MP to focus on power
K S Shaini
BHOPAL
LACKING, as it does, the wherewithal to finance the Rs 5,000-crore Indira Sagar project on Narmada, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to concentrate only on the power component of the multipurpose project.
The government will seek loan from Power Finance Corporation for the purpose. Alternatively, the possibilities of forging a joint venture with the Union government or the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) will be explored.
The Indira Sagar project at Punasa in Khandwa district is the biggest of the 29 major projects contemplated in the Narmada valley. The 92-metre high and 654-metre long dam, on completion, will form the biggest manmade lake in the country with an area of around 1,000 sq km.
The project is expected to irrigate 1.23 lakh hectares and will have an installed capacity of 1,000 mw. The dam is crucial for the Narmada project as it will make regulated releases of water to the further downstream Onkareshwar, Maheshwar and Sardar Sarovar dams.
However, the NBA-sponsored anti-Narmada project campaign and acute financial constraints have taken their toll on the project, leading to massive time and cost over-runs. When work on the project was launched in 1987, it was expected to cost Rs 1,400 crore and was to be completed by 1995.
The project is still languishing and its cost is now estimated to be around Rs 5,000 crore. With the current flow of finances, the project will take another 30 years.
 
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