The study, conducted by Dr Ravi Kuchimanchi and his team for the NBA, claimed that the height of many places mentioned in the official records was wrong by as much as three metres.

It said the government surveys for the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project underestimated the area that would be submerged after completion of work at the site.

The elevation (height from sea level) of the lowest house at village Jalsindhi, on the banks of the Narmada river, in Madhya Pradesh as per government documents was 101.5 metres. However, according to independent measurements, the house stood at 98.4 metres, 3.1 metres lower.

Last year, when the Narmada rose to 98.8 metres on September 21, there was knee-deep water in the house. If the lowest homestead in Jalsindhi had actually been at 101.5 metres, water would not have entered even a single house in the village, the study said.

It also found that at Hapeshwar temple (in Gujarat), the benchmark was off by three metres. While in Chilkada, two different sets of government records showed the height of the lowest homestead there differently-one gave it at 113.74 metres, the other at 115.84 metres.

The consequences of this under-estimation could be well noted in the case of Bargi dam, the first major dam completed on the Narmada in 1990. The dam, which was originally supposed to submerge only 101 villages, ended up drowning 162. Water entered the safe (high) places where the people were rehabilitated, in some cases for the second and third time. Schools, hand-pumps and other infrastructure which the government built for the affected, met a watery grave there.

This way, hundreds of families, who are not supposed to be `affected' by the submergence, would suffer because of the anomaly in official records, the study concluded.

Germany announces assistance for flood-affected
Germany has announced a contribution of DM 60,000 (Rs 12.6 lakh) for immediate relief of the flood-affected people In West Bengal and Assam.

The relief money will be handed over to the `Komitee Arzte Fur Die Dritte Welt (Committee of Doctors for the Third World), which, together with its partner organisations, will deliver blankets, food, tents, drugs and cooking utilities to the affected people.

Nearly 6,000 people belonging to the 900 worst affected families will be covered under the relief, a statement issued by the German embassy in New Delhi said.

Jackie Chan pitches in to save Indian cattle
Asia's best known action star, Jackie Chan, has urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to intervene to stop the pain and suffering endured by cattle killed for meat and leather exports.

In a letter sent to Vajpayee, Chan said he was especially alarmed that such abuses, while illegal under India's stringent animal welfare laws, "continue in this wonderful land where reverence for life is a matter of national pride".

He has asked the Prime Minister to act right away "by using the power of your great office to ensure that federal, state and municipal authorities treat these crimes as a matter of priority and enforce the laws".

He said his attention had been drawn to the issue by an international animal advocacy group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which, in a separate press note, said Chan was moved after seeing a video appeal from their spokesperson, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.

Earlier, two other international personalities from the world of entertainment, Sir Paul McCartney and Steven Seagal, had made similar appeals to Vajpayee.