What a waste

Gujarat’s present dilemma goes beyond the agony of the present floods. All that water from the unprecedented rainfall the state has experienced over the last few days will — after swirling around city streets and rural hutments — flow away into the sea. An asset, which could have helped green next summer, or at least brought some relief to the chronically parched areas of the state like Kutch and Saurashtra, has been wasted. This extra water, as experts have pointed out, could have recharged the groundwater table and replenished rivers that normally become a trickle by the time summer has vent its full fury.

The Sardar Sarovar dam project, as originally envisaged, had a final height of 138.68 metres. But the 20-year campaign mounted against the project by assorted activists and busybodies has not only delayed it considerably, it has led to a scaling down of its height. Today, the dam stands at 110.64 metres, and an additional 11.30 metres have been cleared — provided the required rehabilitation

of project-affected people is achieved. It is nobody’s case that communities affected by the project should not be properly rehabilitated. But a great deal of energy that should have been channeled in this direction has been dissipated in the battle for the dam, besides of course the crores of rupees in escalation costs.

Surely there is a lesson here for those who are prepared to look at the big picture. Every project has costs and benefits and it becomes important to look for ways to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs. But this rational process gets derailed in a situation of over-exuberant dissent. As indeed it did on the Narmada dam issue which is now costing Gujarat a whole lot.