Work for increasing the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam, the third-biggest dam of the country after Tehri Dam in Uttaranchal and Bhakra Nangal Dam in Himachal Pradesh would be completed by the year 2017, said Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Saturday.
Addressing a State-level function on the occasion of the country’s 69th Independence Day at the district headquarter of newly-carved Mahisagar district - lunawada - in Central Gujarat, Patel said as soon as the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) granted permission to raise the height of the dam from the existing 121 metres to 138 metres, the State Government immediately initiated construction work and as result of it, work would be completed within schedule time.
In June 2014, NCA granted permission to augment height of the dam by erecting sluice gates over the dam. Sardar Sarovar Dam is considered as the lifeline of Gujarat, especially for the parched regions like North Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch.
The Chief Minister also said her Government had launched over 600 schemes for the benefit of women with a budget allocation of `47,000 crore. She said Gujarat was the only State in the country which had initiated comprehensive healthcare projects exclusively for the women, like detecting and treating cervical and breast cancer, distributing iron tablets, eradicating malnutrition and even rehabilitation of destitute women. She asked the womenfolk to take benefit of the Government’s campaign for medical test and treatment free-of-cost. Nearly 8-lakh women have undergone various tests under this campaign so far. Nearly 43-lakh children and 7.47-lakh other people have also undergone various tests and treatment in this Statewide unique campaign.