Narmada is the Life-line of Madhya Pradesh both literally as well as figuratively. One of the two rivers in the India which flow from East to West, Narmada originates in Amarkantak- an enchanting hill station and a place of pilgrimage in the Shahdol district of the state and covers a distance of 1312 km., before joining the Arabian sea in the gulf of Cambay. Of this, 1077 Kms is in Madhya Pradesh. Moreover, of the 98796 sq. kms. Of the catchments- area of the river, 89 thousand 850 sq. kms is in the state. As many as 39 tributaries out of total 41 main tributaries join Narmada as it meanders its way through the state. The rich civilization and culture that flourished on the fertile land of the Narmada basin is today an invaluable heritage of the state. " Ganga shreshtha hai , parantu Narmada jyestha hai" (Ganga may be superior but Narmada is elder) wrote Amritlal Baigad in his travelogue on the Narmada. It is a geographical fact that Narmada flowed even when Ganga was not in existence. It was on the banks of Narmada at Omkareshwar that child Shankar- whom we today revere as Adi Shankaracharya - traveled from the far- off Kerala to study in the ashram of Guru Govindpaad. As it travels through the state, Narmada creates many a picturesque sites, including Jabalpur's famous Bhedaghat were the river gurgles between huge walls of white marble. Boating at Bhedaghat is indeed an ethereal, out-of the-world experience. Besides its historical and aesthetic significance, Narmada is also an economic boon for the state. It is obvious that the idea of exploiting the river's potential for irrigation and power generation must have crossed the minds of the political leadership quite early. According to estimates, the river has the potential of irrigation about 28 lakhs hectares of Land and generating 3200 MWs of power in M.P. Almost half of the state's farmers would have gained had the Narmada ,s water would have been completely harnessed. The idea of using the river's potential to bring prosperity to the state was first mooted in mid-1950s. 'However, there was a dispute between the riverine states over the use of the river's water. In 1969, the GOI constituted the " Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal" which took ten years to deliberate on the conflicting claims of MP,. Gujarat , Maharashtra and Rajasthan. In end-1979, the Tribunal announced its award, which distributed Naarmada's 28M.A.F. water between the riverine states in the following manner: The award made it clear that the distribution of water would be review after 45 years i-e. in 2024 AD. Thence started the massive exercise of building the 29 major, 135 medium and more than 3000 small projects on the river, and its tributaries which, when complete would ensure full usage of the 18.25 MAF of water allotted to the state. However, technical surveys, obtaining the necessary clearances from Central government agencies and making budgetary provisions for the projects was a time -consuming affair. So much so, that till date 10 dams out of the 29 major, 20 of the 135 medium and 893 of the 3000 small projects on the river have been completed This has naturally translated into massive time and cost over-runs. And that was primarily because comparatively little was done to complete the task during the successive Congress regimes in the state. This is evident by the fact that in the 28 years since the tribunal's award, only 6 MAF of the river's water could be put to use. This means that in the next 17 year (Up to 2024 AD) projects that would ensure the usage of the remaining 12.25 MAF of water of the state's share will have to be completed. These include 19 major , 115 medium and 2100 small projects. This, indeed, is a challenging task. And the present BJP government of the state has decided pick up the gauntlet. Work on the Narmada projects was speeded up during the regime of the erstwhile BJP chief minister Mr. Sunderlal Patwa and now under the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government it has become one of the government's top priorities. Considerable progress has been made on the project during the current regime. A total installed capacity of 1966 MWs was created including Indira Sagar (1000 MWs) , Omkareshwar (130 MWs), Sardar Sarovar (826 MWs) and Avantibai Sagar canal head project (10 MWs). This has considerably helped ease the situation on the power front in the state. Long scheduled and unscheduled power cuts, particularly in the rural areas, have become a thing of the past and the state can look forward to becoming self-sufficient in power. The Indira Sagar and Sardar Sarovar projects have, so far, generated 1060 crore units of power worth Rs. 1506 crores. All the eight river- bed units of the Indira Sagar project have been commissioned and they are producing 1000 MWs of power. The power generation segment of the Omkareshwar project has been completed. The power house , with an installed capacity of 520 MWs is ready and two units have already stated generating 130 MWs. The completion of the Mann - one of the major project - has created an Irrigation potential of 15 thousand hectares in the tribal areas of the state. Another project - Jobat - has added nearly 10 thousand hectares to the irrigated_ land in the state and that too in tribal- dominated regions. The Upper Veda project with an irrigation potential of 9900 hectares is 80 per cent complete while 80 per cent work is over on the Kathora lift irrigation project, which will irrigate around 7000 hectares of land. Both these projects would benefit the Khargone district. Canals are being built for channelising the irrigation water from the Bargi, Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar and Upper Veda projects. The cumulative cost of these projects is Rs. 1400 crores and when complete, they will bring irrigation to nearly 7 lakh hectares of land. With the help of funding received from various sources including NABARD and GOI work is proceeding at an ultra-fast pace on several projects. The hydel power centre of IIT Roorkee is drawing up a Master plan for small bydel power projects. Nine small hydel power projects with an installed capacity of 371 MWs are proposed to be build on Narmada and its tributaries. An ambitious Rs.8000-crore project for linking the Narmada and Kshipra rivers is under consideration. The project would boost the water availability in the Malwa region of the state in a big way. Around 3 lakh cubic feet of water would become available for domestic and industrial use and for horticulture and floriculture. The project would be a boon for the Malwa region, which is already known for Soyabean and Cotton cultivation. The government also proposes to use Narmada for shipping . In the year 2004, the Union water transport ministry was requested to conduct a survey for using Namada to transport fertilizers, Coal and other produce of the state from Hoshangabad to the Arabian sea