From patrickirn@igc.apc.org Tue Jul 5 01:26:37 EDT 1994 Article: 462 of alt.india.progressive From: Patrick McCully Newsgroups:alt.india.progressive,soc.culture.indian,alt.culture.us.asian-indian Subject: SSP: Medha, 34 Others Arrested Date: 3 Jul 1994 23:14:21 GMT Organization: International Rivers Network Lines: 124 /* Written 2:00 am Jul 3, 1994 by patrickirn@igc.apc.org in igc:env.dams */ /* ---------- "SSP: Medha, 34 Others Arrested" ---------- */ ########################################### NARMADA UPDATE JULY 2, 1994 ########################################### MEDHA, 34 OTHERS ARRESTED, DETAINED UNTIL JULY 11 TWO CHILDREN DIE AT GUJARAT RESETTLEMENT SITE MORE HOUSES SUBMERGED NARMADA DISPLACED PEOPLE'S ORGANISATION FORMED Medha Patkar and 7 NBA supporters were arrested at 4am on Thursday, June 30, as the Sardar Sarovar reservoir rose toward the Manibeli house in which they were sitting on satayagrah. The satayagrahis were warned at midnight that the flood waters were approaching but they refused to leave as a sign of their determination to resist the dam. The people arrested included Natwarbhai Tadvi, Manilal Tadvi and Lallubhai Tadvi from Manibeli and supporters from Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala. On July 1, the reservoir reached its highest level yet -- 77.5m above sea level at the dam site -- submerging houses in at least 5 Gujarat and 4 Maharashtra villages. Among the houses submerged are 11 in Manibeli and 6 in Mokhadi, Gujarat. The NBA does not have full details due to the inaccessibility of the villages. The people arrested in Manibeli were produced before an Executory Magistrate in Kevadia Colony who ordered them to be kept in judicial custody until July 11 on a charge of knowingly stopping government officials from doing their duty. A further 27 people were arrested on the same morning in other villages including 9 in Mokhadi and 1 in Bamni. Among those arrested in Mokhadi was Devrambhai Kanera, the farmer from Madhya Pradesh who fasted with Medha in Bombay in June 1993. The NBA believes all are being held in the jail in Dhule, Maharashtra, and that the government will try to detain all of them until around July 11. The NBA have filed a petition in a local court challenging the arrests and detentions. According to an NBA lawyer, the Executory Magistrate exceeded his powers in ordering the detentions. The arrests have been given major press coverage. OUSTEE CHILDREN DIE OF MALNOURISHMENT, LACK OF MEDICAL CARE At least 2 children have died within the last two weeks at the resettlement site of Simamli, Gujarat. The deaths have been blamed on malnutrition and the government's failure to provide promised medical care. The children's families moved to the site from the tribal village of Dhankhedi, Maharashtra, in April and early May. Fifty out of the 80 families who moved to Simamli have returned to Dhankhedi because of the appalling conditions and lack of land at the site. GUJARAT OUSTEES FORM NARMADA DISPLACED PEOPLE'S ORGANISATION A team from the NBA including Girishbhai Patel, the lawyer representing the oustees from the village of Vadgam in the Gujarat High Court, visited the resettlement site of Dharampuri on Saturday, July 2. The Vadgam oustees were forcibly evicted and transported to Dharampuri on July 25 and 26. Dharampuri is now patrolled by armed Special Reserve Police who arrested the NBA team but were persuaded to release them when it was explained that the arrests were illegal. The police said that they had orders to prevent anyone connected with the NBA from visiting the site. The NBA team found that the Dharampuri site is in a waterlogged depression. The tin sheds erected for the oustees have been flooded. The fields around the site have not been levelled or cleared of stones and are not fit for cultivation. The tin sheds are cut off from the fields by a stream, forcing the people to walk 4km to get to the land. There is no approach road to the site and no electricity. When the people were evicted from Vadgam their belongings were thrown into trucks and dumped at Dharampuri in their absence. Many of their possessions, including 4 cattle, are now missing. The government had promised to supply the oustees with food until they could harvest a crop at the site. However the only food the oustees have received are some spoiled grains from a pro-dam voluntary organisation. The villagers had planned to cultivate land above the submergence line in Vadgam during the monsoon. On top of having little to eat and no cultivable land, there is also no employment available near Dharampuri. Vadgam is close to the dam site so several villagers were able to earn cash by working at the dam. Despite attempts by government officials to prevent them leaving Dharampuri, many of the oustees travelled to Baroda on June 30 to protest, along with nearly 100 other project- affected people from Gujarat, at the offices of the Narmada Nigam. The Gujarat tribal oustees have formed a Narmada Displaced People's Organisation which will work to improve the conditions at the resettlement sites. Other rallies to protest at the recent evictions and detentions have been held in Badwani, Madhya Pradesh, and Bombay. Opponents of the Poimkutty Dam in Kerala also held an anti-SSP protest. POLITICIANS CALL FOR RESIGNATION OF NIGAM CHIEF Opposition politicians in the Gujarat state assembly have called for the resignation of Mr Sanat Mehta, Chairman of the Narmada Nigam, who has been accused of various corruption charges. A government minister has said that an independent judicial inquiry will investigate the charges. ######################## Compiled by Patrick McCully of International Rivers Network with information from Himanshu Thakker of the NBA in Baroda, Gujarat.