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dam-l PR: 7-Year Old Girl Drowns in Mud Behind Sardar Sarovar Dam
Narmada Bachao Andolan/Save the Narmada Movement
Press Note/ July 8, 1999
SEVEN YEAR GIRL TRAPPED, DROWNED IN SARDAR SAROVAR SILT DEPOSITS:
SATAYAGRAH, FAST CONTINUES
A seven year old girl, Lata Vasave, from the adivasi [tribal] village of
Domkhedi in the Narmada Valley drowned on Wednesday (July 7), after being
trapped in thick silt deposits on the edge of the Sardar Sarovar reservoir.
Thick layers of mud are deposited along the banks of the impounded Narmada
and its tributaries due to the river being slowed down behind the partly
built Sardar Sarovar Dam.
Lata had gone to to fetch water, and got trapped in the silt on the banks
and bed of the Khad River, which enters the Narmada at the edge of
Domkhedi. It was impossible for Lata to scramble out of the 10 foot thick
mud.
By the time the Domkhedi Satyagraha [protest] camp came to know this, the
girl was drowned in the river. The people on Satyagraha have lodged a case
against the authorities at the police camp near Domkhedi, which is on the
south bank of the Narmada in Maharashtra state.
The tragic death of Lata Vasave has plunged the entire Satyagraha camp in
gloom as people mourn her death.
"Lata is a victim of the unmindful, profit-driven system which pushed the
dam ahead. The dam has already made the life of the people in the valley
miserable. Lata's death is a pointer to the fact. Let the people all over
India take note of this tribal victim of the Sardar Sarovar dam and shake
the stupor of the dam builders", said Dr. Sugan Baranth, Philip Matthew and
Medha Patkar from the site of the Satyagraha.
Lata died on the 19th day of Satyagraha in the Narmada Valley against the
submergence and displacement. Satayagrah camps have been established by the
side of the river in Domkhedi and on the opposite bank of the river in
Jalsindhi in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Since July 4, Patkar, Matthew and seven other activists have been on fast
against the injustice and have vowed to fight to the finish against the
onslaught on the people's rights.
Lata was a student of the Narmada Bachao Andolan-run school in nearby
Nimgavhan village. This 'Jeevan Shala', or School of Life, is one of six
schools run by the NBA in the adivasi villages resisting the Sardar Sarovar
Dam.
The thick mud deposited by the impounded river has caused serious problems
to the adivasis living alongside the Narmada in Maharashtra and Madhya
Pradesh since the first submergence took place in July 1993. Time and
again cattle have died after being trapped in the thick silt while
approaching the river for water. It has been impossible for village people
to go to the river bank for water or for bathing, of fishing.
The NBA has repeatedly appealed to the state government to look into this
problem and safeguard the lives of the people; but in vain. The basic issue
is how can the submergence and its after effects, like silting, be imposed
when the people are living in the villages and have not moved out?
Narmada Bachao Andolan