Thaindian News

Gandhinagar, May 4 (IANS) The Gujarat government has opposed a central panel being set up to review environmental steps taken under the Sardar Sarovar project on the Narmada river.
According to an official press release here Tuesday, Chief Minister Narendra Modi urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw the environment and forest ministry order to form a committee to review the environmental steps taken under the project.

“The decision of the union environment and the forest ministry taken on April 28 is not in accordance with the present provisions of Narmada Yojana and with the orders of the Supreme Court of Oct 20, 2000,” says the letter handed over to the prime minister late Monday evening.

In the letter, Modi said the project has passed through many legal disputes and hurdles and a positive hand from the central government and the prime minister has helped it to set many benchmarks.

Construction of 458-km main canal has been completed in 2008, and has delivered drinking water to more than 2.2 crore people but to extract maximum benefits from this inter-state multipurpose project, it is imperative to take the dam’s height to the full reservoir level, he said.

The 48th meeting of environmental sub-group of the Narmada Control Authority presided over by the environment and forest secretary had approved a height of 138 metres for the Sardar Sarovar dam, he said. Formation of another high-level committee would work to the detriment of the project and would raise a question mark on the numerous decisions taken by other central bodies in the past, he added.

“The Narmada Control Authority has a complete monitoring set-up and the environmental sub-group is empowered to take any decision related to the project, thus there is no need for any other independent body for the purpose,” he said.