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dam-l PR: People of Narmada To Brave Threat of Submergence
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park, Baroda, Gujarat
Press release - 9.3.99
PEOPLE TO EXPOSE GOVT. CLAIMS ABOUT LAND & RESETTLEMENT
JALSINDHI MEET RESOLVES TO BRAVE THREAT & SUBMERGENCE
The tribals and peasants in the Narmada valley have decided to confront and
expose the respective state governments who have given false information
regarding situation of displacement and resettlement in the Sardar Sarovar
Project (SSP) in the Supreme Court and not to leave their lands and
villages under the pressure of fraud and threat of submergence. The people
analysed the recent interim order by the Court allowing the government to
increase the height of the SSP upto 85 meters from 80.3 meters, thus
causing more submergence in the villages during this yearís monsoon and
reiterated the resolve to face any situation. The consensus emerged in a
meeting of the representatives of the SSP affected villages from the three
states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra- held in village Jalsindhi
on the banks of Narmada on March 6-7. The people reiterated that even on
the limited issue of the resettlement, the claims of the concerned
governments have been far from the actual reality, let alone the other
equally important issues about the cost-benefit, environment , social
justice and the alternatives.
The villagers of Manibeli, the first affected village in Maharashtra who
have braved the submergence three times, were resolute not to give up in
face of the pressure tactics from the government. Keshavbhau Vasave, one of
the main tribal activists from Nimgavhan village in Maharashtra commented
that though the benefits of the dam wonít accrue till the height of 110
meters, it is only to intimidate the tribals that the government is bent
upon getting the permission to restart the work at whatever height. "With
this permission in hand, the people who do not exactly fall below the 85
meters too are being made to displace and resettle", he observed. Baba
Mahariya, the tribal leader from Jalsindhi reiterated the resolve not to
leave the ancestral land while Khajansingh observed that the basic issues,
including the displacement, that the peopleís movement had raised must not
be overlooked.
Resettlement: False Claims
Even in the limited perspective of resettlement that the court has adopted,
the people decided to put the reality regarding the displacement and
resettlement before the independent ëGrievance Redressal Authorityí (GRA)
headed by Justice (Rtd.) P.D Desai and withstand any attempt by the
government to displace them in violation of the provisions of Narmada Water
Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) or other legal and Constitutional rights. After the
detailed analysis the people concluded that the displacement and
resettlement that has been taking place for the SSP, hitherto, has been a
clear violation of even the minimum requirements of the NWDT, let alone
the tribalsí democratic and human rights. Even the first villages near the
dam site have not been resettled in a just way even after 15 to 20 years.
Those few whom the government has displaced could not be resettled in
communities. The villages, families have been disintegrated. The oustees at
the resettlement sites have been suffering from the land related problems
and other equally grave issues like drinking water, fuelwood, fodder and
grazing land, health etc. Moreover, the ëoffersí the governments have made
regarding the land for the oustees upto 90 meters have been found
fraudulent as on at least 19 sites the lands were not available; the
Madhya Pradesh government itself had rejected many such lands as there were
problems. Thus, the people felt, the Gujarat government had presented a
picture in the Court which has little to do with the reality.
The Maharashtra government had made audacious claims that every ousted
family had been provided with land. However, the government itself had
agreed that at least 169 oustee families did not have land as late as
February 1999 at the resettlement sites in Taloda and Akkalkua tehsils of
Nandurbar district. Despite availing itself of 4200 hectares of forest land
from 1990 onwards, the state government in its affidavit in March 1998
stated that 470 ha was uncultivable. The same figure came at 836 hectares
in September, 1998. The government was compelled to appoint a ëland
purchase committeeí in February this year. The resort to private lands for
resettlement implies no community resettlement. This, again, constitutes
violation of the NWDT provisions.
The people decided to challenge the state governments in Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra about the false information they had provided in the Court and
minutely examine the claims regarding the land availability with on the
spot inspection by people, in both the state. They will also confront the
Narmada Control Authority (NCA) about this falsehood and consequent
violation of the tribalsí right to life and other democratic, human rights.
Alongwith , the organisation will be making the presentations to the GRA
regarding the status of rehabilitation. The people made it clear that the
organisation must insist on comprehensive approach towards the project and
the resettlement issue as they have been raising the issue in all its
aspects from last 14 years and their petition too was for a comprehensive
review of the project.
( Sanjay Sangvai)