In news– The Prime Minister of India has recently inaugurated the 357.18-kilometer-long Kutch Branch Canal (KBC) that stretched from the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam in Narmada district of Gujarat.
Kutch Branch Canal (KBC)-
- It has been built at the cost of Rs 6493 crore by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL)
- It is acclaimed as the “longest branch canal in the world”.
- The Saurashtra and North Gujarat regions have been receiving Narmada waters through the Saurashtra Branch Canal, its six sub-branch canals as well as through the canal network in north Gujarat.
- The KBC, which offtakes from the Narmada Main Canal (NMC) at Salimnagar in Kankrej taluka of Banaskantha district, was delayed because of the many engineering challenges.
- It will provide drinking water in all villages and 10 towns of the Kutch district.
- Now, the KBC is ready to carry water in its entire length, covering 733 km from Sardar Sarovar Dam in Kevadia (now Ektanagar) in Narmada District where the Statue of Unity is located, to Mod kuba.
- The project began around 2008 and passes over Dudhai village which was the epicentre of the 2001 earthquake.
- The water carrying capacity of the KBC was kept at 220 cumecs (cubic metre per second).
- The total length of the KBC is 357.185 km of which 82.30 km length falls in Banaskantha and Patan districts, and about 10 km of the canal travels through the Rann of Kutch which is the arid patch of the desert.
The Sardar Sarovar Dam-
- It is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada river in Navagam near the town of Kevadiya, Narmada District, Gujarat.
- The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to four Indian states; Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.
- Dam’s spillway discharging capacity (30.7 lakhs cusecs) would be third highest in the world.
- With 1133 cumecs (40000 cusecs) capacity at the head regulator, and 532 km. length, the Narmada Main Canal would be the largest irrigation canal in the world.
- The dam is the third highest concrete dam (163 meters) in India, the first two being Bhakra (226 metres) in Himachal Pradesh and Lakhwar (192 meters) in Uttarakhand.
Source: The Indian Express
