After a wait of eight long years, the Gujarat Government has finally got the approval to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam, the country's most controversial dam project, by about 17 metres. It is a big boost to the State which often faces water woes due to deficient rains.
Without Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention, there was little likelihood of this decision fructifying so quickly. After all, he had lobbied for this clearance without success for the past eight years.
The dam, the world's second largest concrete gravity dam, has been raised periodically from the initial 80 metres, despite stiff opposition from Narmada Bachao Andolan. Ms Medha Patkar is naturally upset. Once the dam construction is completed, it will provide irrigation water to 1.8 million hectares in Gujarat and benefit one million farmers. It will provide drinking water to 9,633 villages and 131 towns.