Small dams are more friendly: NBA

Featured Blog

Suhasini Haidar

This Too Shall Not Pass

Featured Slideshows

Bilagaon (Maharashtra): Sometimes small is big. The Sardar Sarovar Project aims to bring in a lot of progress to the three states that it serves. But smaller projects can be effective too.

Statistics of people and property affected by the Sardar Sarovar dam go into lakhs. But small projects serving the same purpose as the Sardar Sarovar dam, like the one in Bilagaon, will also provide irrigation and generate power.

The Bilagaon project is the same project the movie Swades is based on - the only difference being that this is not set up by an NRI but is totally the result of the hardwork put in by the local villagers.

Says one villager, Gokhru Pavara, "All of us chipped-in our own small way to make sure this dam succeeds."

The idea of the dam came up in association with The People's School of Energy, a Kerala based NGO.

This dam, which is situated on a tributary of the Narmada produces 15 MW electricity - enough to power the houses of close to 300 families in Bilagaon, with least displacement.

Narmada Bachao Andolan activist, Yogini Khanolkar says, "When you compare the Sardar Sarovar dam to the Bilagaon dam to it, one can see that the latter is very friendly to the people and the environment whereas the former has brought about losses and destruction."

Seventy-five metres long, two metres wide and only 25 metres high, the Bilagaon dam definitely aims to be as effective and more environmental friendly.

While larger projects promise larger returns, they also demand more displacement of human ife and property.

Small projects like Bilagaon on the other hand are an example of how progress can co-exist with normal life.