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dam-l LS: Deccan Herald- 'A Watery Showdown'
DECCAN HERALD Sunday, July 18, 1999
A watery showdown
With evidence of lack of land and resources for rehabilitation, the
opponents of the
Sardar Sarovar Project are all set to intensify their stir, even if it
means braving the flood waters
All set for 'jalsamarpan'
Truth will prevail. The people of the Narmada Valley, engaged in a
14-year-long struggle against the Sardar Sarovar Project, are determined
not allow the truth to be drowned in a flood of falsehood. ''We will
neither move nor shift our houses when the flood waters come,`` said
Shripad Dharmadhikari, an activist of the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
NBA activists are camping at two tribal villages - Jalsindhi (Madhya
Pradesh) and Domkhedi (Maharashtra) on the banks of the Narmada. They are
at the mercy of the rain god and the Supreme Court. The interim order
passed by the apex court in February this year allowed the Gujarat
government to raise the height of the dam to 88 meters. The order was based
on the assurances given by the authorities that the rehabilitation of
the people displaced by raising the dam`s height by eight meters would be
completed before the monsoons.
But the governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh do not have
land or resources to rehabilitate 2000 odd tribal families whose villages
are on the verge of being submerged during the monsoons. The Maharashtra
government and the Narmada Control Authority furnished misleading
information in their affidavits, claim the NBA activists who have (on
record) the district collector of Nandurbar`s admission that no land was
available to rehabilitate the tribals. This amounts to contempt of court,
says Girishbhai Thackkar, the counsel for the NBA.
Urgency
The next hearing of the case is on July 22 but the rains might not wait for
the court order, and therefore the NBA has to resort to intensifying the
stir. The strategy is aimed at exposing the authorities and stalling
further construction of the dam wall. The decision of braving the flood
without vacating homes or fields was announced by Medha Patkar, the leader
of the NBA last Sunday when she broke a week-long fast and penance of
silence at Domkhedi.
She recalled a similar event in Manibeli village in 1994 when the tribals
parked themselves on the roofs of the houses surrounded by flood waters.
The police had forcibly removed them to safer places.
''We will try our level best to save their lives by physically dragging
them away, but the hilly terrain and uncertain weather could hamper our
efforts,`` said S B Nighot, PSI, leading the police force pressed into
service by the Maharashtra government.
The river can swell in an hour depending on the quantity of the downpour.
The government has set up police camps
equipped with wireless sets in the vicinity of the villages which are
expected to be submerged this monsoon. ''Our duty is to alert the villagers
according to the information supplied by the irrigation department,`` said
the police officer expressing his helplessness in forcibly removing the
satyagrahis to a safer place. ''We do not have boats nor are there roads in
the tribal belt of the valley. Trekking the muddy and slippery hillocks
makes our task more difficult,`` he admitted.
''We are fighting to win and Medhatai will not be alone in the event of
jalsamarpan, we too will join her,`` said Sitaram Parmar of Anjar village
of Badwani district in Madhya Pradesh.
Sitaram Parmar hails from the fertile plains of Nimad and he knows that
after the tribals it is the turn of Nimad. The peasants of Nimad,
therefore, have stood firmly behind their tribal brethren. They have taken
the responsibility of feeding the satyagrahis and activists who have been
camping at tribal villages for over a month. ''We are coming in batches
organised in such a way that our farm work will not suffer, the people
staying behind are taking care of it,`` said Sitaram Parmar.
So far, the controversial Sardar Sarovar reservoir has submerged only a
fourth of the area that it will when the dam reaches its full height.
Submergence could not be averted in case of a heavy downpour or release of
waters from upstream dams, contended Sanjay Mangla Gopal, professor of
mechanical engineering and coordinator of the National Alliance of Peoples`
Movements.
Multi-lingual stir
The tribals, Project Affected People from the three states, NBA activists
and supporters of the NBA across the country are staging satygrahas at the
remote tribal villages of Jalsindhi and Domkhedi. The agitation has been
going on from June 20 onwards. Hundreds of activists are rushing to the
valley.
''We are not only fighting for the Narmada valley but are questioning the
model of development that takes away the
livelihood of millions of people and benefiting only a small section of
society,`` said Maitree, a college student from
Thiruvananthapuram. For over a month she has been camping at Domkhedi
helping senior activists in organising
meetings, attending to batches of satyagrahis, etc. There are many from
Kerala who understand Hindi and ''they
translate proceedings of the meetings into Malayalam for me,`` she said.
The NBA agitation is multilingual. Activists come from different states and
the valley reverberates with slogans and
songs in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil and tribal dialects
while English is linking the struggle in the
Valley with the rest of the world.
As the fight for the Narmada entered a newer, sadder phase, the moral
booster came from the Booker Prize winner
Arundhati Roy who took up the cause for 'The Greater Common Good`. Her
essay, 'The Greater Common Good` first
appeared in the Outlook and Frontline magazines, was published in a book
form by India Book Distributors and was
formally released in Mumbai recently. The author`s royalties of this book
have been assigned to the NBA.
In her brief address at the function, Arundhati said we should not allow
the 'iron triangle' of politicians, contractors and bureaucrats to take
decisions about development. ''When it comes to big projects there is no
difference in the Congress, BJP or any other political party,`` she said
announcing that this was the time for a new kind of politics. Unless we
have a more equitable, egalitarian society, the fabric that binds us would
be torn off, she observed. The Booker prize winner is leading the Rally for
Valley, which will reach the river by July 31.
NBA activists are hopeful that the Maharashtra government would submit
before the apex court that it did not have the land and resources for
rehabilitation of the people displaced. The NBA leader Medha Patkar had two
meetings with Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane to impress upon him
the need to file a fresh affidavit. The government of Madhya Pradesh has
filed a suit in the Supreme Court, in April 1999 demanding a new tribunal
to decide on the Narmada controversy. It has also asked for the reduction
in the height of the Sardar Sarovar Project and has objected to any work on
the dam. The MP government petition too, will be taken up for hearing on
July 22 along with the petition filed by the NBA in February 1994.
Besides displacement and rehabilitation, the NBA has raised issues related
to environment, seismic, economic benefits and financial viability with all
facts and complete appraisal as well as discussion on alternatives and
demanded a new body which is nothing less than a 'a new tribunal` as asked
by the MP government.
Sunil Tambe
in Domkhedi