Chhota Udaipur, Oct 07 (ANI): Police arrested twelve villagers as they attempted suicide by drowning in the canal in protest against the Narmada Dam project in Gujarat. The villagers, including a woman, from the Naswadi village in Chhota Udaipur district, jumped into a canal near the dam after their repeated appeals to the government were not met with. Many of these villagers lost their lands and sources of income to the project that took form in 1979, as part of an initiative to produce hydroelectricity and increase irrigation. Police officials said they managed to rescue all twelve villagers after they had jumped in protest. He added that they were given medical aid after they had been rescued. Around 42 families have been affected by this decades-long project which has been regularly dogged by protests. The Narmada dam, also called the Sardar Sarovar dam is one of the country's biggest dams.