How the Narmada River Originates

The Narmada, the Peninsula’s largest west-flowing river, rises in Madhya Pradesh’s Amarkantak Mountains. It is the country’s fifth-biggest river and Gujarat’s largest. It meets the Gulf of Cambay in Madhya Pradesh and is one of the famous rivers. The river runs for 1312 km (815 miles) from source to sea, and 1163 km up to the dam (723 miles). It is 488 metres wide at high floods and 45.70 metres wide during summer (150 feet). This year’s greatest flood was 70,847 cumecs (2.5 million cusecs), while the summer low was 8.5 cumecs (300 cusecs). 8.7 million cumecs (3.07 million cusecs) overwhelm the dam.

Features of Narmada River

• Approximately 3 percent of the country’s entire geographical area is covered by the Narmada basin, which has a surface size of 98,796 square kilometres.
• The basin is bordered on the north by the Vindhya Range, on the east by the Maikala range, on the south by the Satpura range, and on the west by the Arabian Sea. The basin is surrounded on the north by the Vindhya range, on the east by the Maikala range, and on the west by the Arabian Sea.
• The Deccan basin, which is located at the northernmost tip of the Deccan plateau, encompasses substantial sections of the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, as well as a lesser amount in the states of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
• Approximately 27 districts and 20 parliamentary constituencies (India-WRIS 2009) are covered by the basin, which includes 15 districts in Madhya Pradesh, three in Gujarat, and one each in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
• Located in the high reaches of the basin are hilly regions, while the lower middle reaches are vast and fertile lands that are well suited for agricultural production.
• A total of 45.64 billion cubic metres of water can be stored in the basin on a yearly basis (BCM). The basin’s utilisable surface water has a volume of 34.50 billion cubic metres.

Origin of Narmada River 

The Narmada River, the largest west-flowing river on the peninsula, originates near the Amarkantak range of mountains in Madhya Pradesh and flows into the Bay of Bengal. It is the fifth-biggest river in the country and the largest river in Gujarat, according to the United Nations. It passes through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat before arriving in the Gulf of Cambay. 

It takes 1312 kilometres to transport the river from its source to the sea, and 1163 kilometres to transport it up to the dam’s construction location. During severe floods, the width of the river channel at the dam site is 488 metres, while the width during the summer is 45.70 metres. When the floodwaters reached their peak on September 7, 1994, they reached a total of 70,847 cumecs, while the lowest recorded flow in summer was 8.5 cumecs (300 cusecs). The dam is designed to withstand a flood of 87,000 cumecs.

Irrigation Facility 

The Sardar Sarovar Project would give irrigation amenities to 18.45 million hectares of land, which will be spread throughout 3112 villages in 73 talukas and across 15 districts in Gujarat. The project will also use lift irrigation to water 2,46,000 hectares of land in Rajasthan’s strategic desert districts of Barmer and Jalore and 37,500 hectares of land in Maharashtra’s tribal hills region, among other things. Drought conditions prevail in around 75% of Gujarat’s command region, whereas drought conditions prevail throughout the whole command in Rajasthan. This area will become drought resistant in the near future due to the guaranteed water supply.

History of Narmada River

It was as early as 1946 that a proposal to use the Narmada River for irrigation and electrical generation was conceived and implemented. Tawa (in Rajasthan) was home to three projects, while Bharuch (in Gujarat) and Bargi (in Gujarat) each had four. The final four projects were Bharuch (in Gujarat), Bargi (in Gujarat), and Tawa (in Rajasthan) each having three (in Madhya Pradesh). The late Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone for the proposed dam in Gora in Gujarat on April 5, 1961. The dam will have a reservoir level of 161 feet and be completed by 1965. (49.08 metres). As a result of the subsequent availability of more extensive, modernised Survey of India contour sheets, the chance of increasing the height of the dam in order to maximise water utilisation was investigated.

Dr. Khosla was the chairman of an Indian government panel that advocated a 500-foot-long dam in 1965 to resolve a disagreement between the governments in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh over the allocation of the Narmada River’s water. The Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) was established by the Government of India in October 1969 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 because the Government of Madhya Pradesh refused to accede to the Khosla Committee’s recommendation to develop Narmada water. In December 1979, NWDT presented its final prize.

Conclusion 

There are several names for the Narmada River: Reva, Narbada, and Nerbudda in English. The Narmada River is the longest river in Madhya Pradesh and the longest west-flowing river in India. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, India, share this river. Because of its numerous benefits to the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, it is also known as the “Life Line of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.” The Amarkantak Plateau in Madhya Pradesh’s Anuppur district is the source of the Narmada River. It is the historic dividing line between North and South India, flowing westward for 1,312 kilometres (815.2 miles) before emptying into the Arabian Sea through the Gulf of Khambhat, 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) west of Bharuch, Gujarat.