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dam-l LS: Rallyists take pledge to protect Narmada, Hope for Resettlement Fades (TheHindu)
Rallyists take pledge to protect Narmada
The Hindu, 8/5/99
By Gargi Parsai
DHOMKHEDI (MAHARASHTRA), AUG. 4. The Booker Prize winner, Ms. Arundhati
Roy, and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader, Ms. Medha Patkar, along
with participants of the ``Rally for the Valley'' took a pledge at the
Narmada here to ``protect the river''.
It was a moving sight as thousands of tribals and small farmers gathered at
the river, known as the virgin river, to take the pledge. Before that, Ms.
Roy was given a traditional welcome by a people who face dispossession of
their homes and fields from the Sardar Sarovar Project. Hame marna nahi,
jeena hai, (we have to live, not to die), the celebrated author told the
huge gathering as she raised a fist to say, Koi nahi hateyga, bandh nahi
banega (nobody will move, the dam will not be constructed).
Ms. Patkar has declared that this time when the water rises to swallow
people's home, they will not move. Being a leader who leads from the front,
she will be the first to face submergence, call it `Jalsamadhi' or
`Jalsamarpan'.
At an informal meeting with presspersons in Dhomkhedi, a village in
Maharashtra which has no electricity, road or water, Savitri Behn suddenly
asked the stunned mediaperson: ``You tell us what we should do. Should we
apologise to the Supreme Court, become beggars or terrorists, or continue
the struggle for our rights? What should we do, you tell us.''
Nurja Bhai of Chimankhedi also raised an uncomfortable question: ``We are
on our own land. Do we not have the right to live on our own land, call it
agitation or whatever?''
It is not just this trend of the NBA, but how well informed the tribals and
villagers are about what is happening that is amazing. Each and every
affected person knows who Ms. Roy is and what the Supreme Court decision
was about raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Project by 4 metres
after a stay of four years. And not just Ms. Patkar every member of the NBA
is just as dedicated and committed working in back-of-the-beyond villages
that have no communication facilities. Ms. Patkar has found an indigenous
method of solving the communication problem. She just climbs the hilltop
and shouts across the valley to the villagers across with her voice
reverberating in the valley. It is obvious that women are at the centre of
the movement. ``Once NBA made us aware about our rights, the rest we picked
up,'' says Pairvi, of Jalsindhi, the village slated for total submergence.
Ms. Roy's entry into the scene has aroused an awareness in the
intelligentsia. Says Ms. Patkar: ``we had the support of mazdoors, dalits,
kisans and women group and now because of Arundhati the intelligentsia have
for the first time questioned the development process that takes away from
one to give to another. Her thoughtful and emotional analysis of the
struggle have given the movement much strength and understanding.'' Asked
about the turn that the movement will take in view of the court's decision
on contempt against the NBA and Ms. Arundhati Roy, Ms. Patkar said, ``we
don't know what will happen. But we will not move''.
It is about time the riparian State Governments take a position on the
destructive dam in the Narmada Valley. The SSP will not solve the water
problem of Gujarat and the people who are being dispossessed for an
invisible dam have the right to question the costs and benefits of the
project.
Ms. Roy criticised the Gujarat Government for sealing its border and not
allowing the ``Rally for the Valley'' to pass through the State. ``It is an
issue of democracy. Is Gujarat a different country? How can they close the
borders?'' Ms. Roy had walked for more than six hours to reach Jalsindhi
and Dhomkhedi tribal villages from Kakrana.
*************************
After 7 years, hope of resettlement fades
The Hindu, 8/4/99
By Kalpana Sharma
MUMBAI, AUG. 3. These people are not against the Sardar Sarovar Project
(SSP). For years they firmly believed that the Maharashtra Government would
resettle them. But today, project- affected families from Nandurbar
district say that they too believe, like the supporters of the Narmada
Bachao Andolan (NBA), that the dam should not be built because there is no
land to settle the affected families.
Over 450 people have travelled 500 km from villages in the district in the
submergence zone of the SSP to Mumbai to ask the Government to show them
the land where they are supposed to be resettled. They are camping in Azad
Maidan in the hope of meeting the Chief Minister, Mr. Narayan Rane.
Ironically, the Punarwasan Sangharsha Samiti consists of people who were
not supporters of the NBA. They had accepted resettlement and were
convinced that the Government would find suitable land for them. After
seven years of waiting in vain, they have given up. ``After seven years we
have realised that there is no land,'' says one of the project-affected
villagers.
Although 1,482 families of the 5,000 in the 33 villages in Maharashtra that
will be submerged once the dam is built, have been resettled, several
hundreds have not yet been given land. Even those who were given land found
that the promises of electricity, roads, water, schools, hospitals, etc
remained unfulfilled.
In March this year, hundreds of villagers from the district went to meet
the Resident Collector of Nandurbar, Mr. Devidas Vasave. They were
accompanied by Ms. Medha Patkar of the NBA. At a meeting which they
recorded on video, they demanded that they be shown the land where they
were to be resettled. Mr. Vasave accompanied them to the land slated for
resettlement.
However, on reaching there he acknowledged that the land was uncultivable
and that it was already occupied. ``If there is no land, there should be no
shifting done,'' he is shown saying in the video. ``So, stop the dam''. Mr.
Vasave promised them that he would convey the truth to the Government and
ensure that this was also conveyed to the Supreme Court where the case
filed by the NBA is being heard.
On July 10, the Chief Minister met representatives of the Punarwasan
Sangharsha Samiti and promised to visit the area by July 25 to see the
situation for himself. Till today, he has not gone there. On July 20, they
met the Minister for Rehabilitation, Mr. Jayprakash Mundada. He too gave
them a patient hearing.
The Samiti has now turned to the Shiv Sena Chief, Mr. Bal Thackeray. They
met him today for a few minutes when he promised that he would set up a
meeting with the Chief Minister.