‘People affected by water release from Sardar Sarovar dam yet to receive relief’

The Congress on Wednesday alleged the recent flood-like situation in Bharuch and Narmada districts was “man-made” and occurred due to gross negligence by authorities managing the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD), a charge rejected by the ruling BJP.

A delegation of senior Congress leaders visited the two districts in south Gujarat and claimed that affected people are still awaiting assistance from the government.

The Congress alleged houses and properties of thousands of families in the affected parts of the two districts were damaged after “over 18 lakh cusec water” was released suddenly from the dam on September 17 due to “the BJP government’s urge to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.”

Cusec is a measure of the flow rate of water and is an abbreviation for cubic feet per second (which is equivalent to a flow of 28.317 litres per second).

“The flood-like situation created in the districts of Bharuch and Narmada was man-made and due to gross negligence on the part of the authorities managing the Sardar Sarovar dam,” the party said in a statement.

The delegation comprised the leader of the Congress legislative party Amit Chavda, deputy leader Shailesh Parmar, state working president Himmatsinh Patel, and senior leader Tushar Chaudhary.

The ruling BJP, however, has refuted the allegations saying the dam, situated near Ekta Nagar in Narmada district, received an unprecedented amount of water within just 36 hours from the upstream, which forced authorities to release 18 lakh cusecs of water into the downstream on September 17.