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dam-l LS: Medha and Others Released From Jail; ENS article on arrests
This email contains NBA updates and articles on the situation in the
Narmada Valley.
1) Medha and Others Released: Satyagraha Continues, NBA Press Release, 8/12/99
2) Sixty Two Satyagrahis Arrested After Daring SSP Submergence, NBA Press
Release, 8/12/99
3) 62 Arrested Daring Submergence at Dam Protest, Environment News Service,
8/11/99
**************
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park
Baroda-390007. ( Ph.0265-382232)
Press Release/ Aug. 12, 1999
MEDHA PATKAR AND OTHERS RELEASED : SATYAGRAHA CONTINUES AS PEOPLE
REPLACE THOSE ARRESTED AT DOMKHEDI : ARUNDHATI ROY REACHES THE VALLEY
All the 62 people, who were arrested yesterday at Domkhedi Satyagraha
site while they were in waist deep water, were released today at
3.00pm unconditionally by the Maharashtra police at Dhadgaon. Soon after
the release, Medha Patkar and all the Satyagahis along with many local
supporters took out a rally in the town condemning the submergence and
subsequent arrest by the Government and reiterated their resolve to
fight by returning back to the Satyagraha site to continue, where
Satyagraha was replaced by another group of satyagrahis. The
satyagrahis released along with Medha Patkar are expected to reach
Domkhedi late tonight.
In the meantime noted writer/novelist and booker prize winner Arundhati
Roy has reached Jalsindhi/Domkhedi. Immediately on hearing the rise of
water Ms.Arundhati Roy rushed to the valley to give moral support to all
the Satyagrahis, and villages whose house and field will be/got
submerged, while the water rises, and reached Jalsindhi today morning.
Meanwhile protest programs, against the submergence of large number of
farms and houses, arrest and detention of Medha Patkar and other
Satyagrahis are being carried out at various places in the country,
especially at Bombay, Ernakulam, etc. through rallies and dharnas.
Hundreds of supporters from all over the country are also sending
protest letters to Maharashtra Government and the President of India,
appealing to stop this destructive development and human rights
violation in the Narmada valley.
Rasikbhai Gajanand, M.K.Sukumar and Nandini Oza
************
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park
Baroda-390007. ( Ph.0265-382232)
Press Release/ Aug. 12, 1999
SIXTY TWO SATYAGRAHIS ARRESTED AFTER DARING THE SSP SUBMERGENCE
FOR OVER FIFTEEN HOURS : SATYAGRAHA CONTINUES IN JALSINDHI ALSO
The tribals and peasants of the Narmada valley dared the swirling
backwaters of the infamous Sardar Sarovar Project for over 15 hours
before they were arrested on Wednesday evening ( August 11) by the
Maharashtra police. About 62 satyagrahis including 19 women were
arrested alongwith the Ranya Padvi, Devram Kanera and Medha Patkar of
the first batch of the samarpit dal ( dedicated squad). The people were
facing the rapidly increasing waters of Sardar Sarovar dam, which
eventually went up to waste high. The police had to resort to dragging,
beating to arrest the satyagrahis.
However, the satyagraha of Jalsindhi ( M.P.) continued while the water
came perilously close to the satyagraha site. The people with the
veteran Sitarambhai, Luvariyabhai and Rehmat leading the satyagrahis to
face the water. By Wednesday evening the water level stabilised some
two feet below the satyagraha place. In Domkhedi also, immediately after
the arrest the new batch of satyagrahis continued the action.
The backwaters of Sardar Sarovar Project(SSP) started rising from the
morning on August 10. At Rajghat, near Badwani in M.P. in the upstream,
the river level rose from 118 meters to 124 and further 126 meters
within a few hours. This has been a result of the combined effect of the
releases from the upstream dams of Bargi ( 30,000 cusecs), Tawa ( 28,000
cusecs) and Barna (30,000 cusecs) some three days before. As a
consequence, the water level at the Satyagraha places of Domkhedi and
Jalsindhi. At Domkhedi, by the evening the backwaters reached near the
Satyagraha house.
After midnight, the water entered in Satyagraha house.
Soon the 50-60 satyagrahis, including Medha Patkar, Devram
Kanera and the veteran Ranyabhau Padvi were engulfed by knee deep
waters. The people shouted slogans against the dam and the unjust
submergence. They did not move out even when the waters reached to
waste high by the morning. The "samarpit dal" ( dedicated squad), of
Medha, Ranyabhau and Devrambhai asked other people to move out of the
submergence waters, but all of them stayed there only. The police was
nowhere to be seen till the next evening. During the whole day, the
sayagrahis were facing the increasing waters while the police were
making merry at the higher camp and some indulging in the liquor as it
was the "gataari amavaas" ( dirty first-moon day).
After about 15 hours in the submergence waters, the higher police and
administrative officials from Nandurbar arrived in the evening of 11th
August. They included Mr. Nimglohn, the Additional Inspector General of
Police of Maharashtra, Mr. Koregaonkar, the District Police Chief, Mr.
Shrimali, the infamous Collector of Nandurbar and other officials. Under
their supervision the satyagrahis were dragged, beaten and were
arrested. In all 62 people including 19 women were arrested. They were
taken to Dhadgaon. They were arrested under sections 68-69 of Bombay
Police Act. The satyagraha area in and around Domkhedi was declared as
prohibited area under s.144 of IPC.
As an aside, the Additional Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, Mr.
Ranganathan and Rehabilitation Secretary Mr. Nandlal cam to Dhadgaon to
discuss the matters with the satyagrahis. But the people refused to
discuss the things when they were being arrested. The police asked the
people to provide guarantee in writing that they would not attempt to
commit suicide. The satyagrahis answered back that, it was the
government which intended them to drown when they were in their house.
Immediately after the arrest, the next batch of the satyagrahis took
charge and resumed the satyagraha.
Sanjay Sangvai
******************
62 Arrested Daring Submergence at Dam Protest
By Frederick Noronha
BOMBAY, India, August 11, 1999 (ENS) - Villagers and activists are braving
submergence in a do or die protest against the mammoth Indian Narmada dam
project, as protests touched a flashpoint this week.
Sixty-two people determined to face submergence in the rising waters
behind the Sardar Sarovar Dam were arrested by the Maharashtra police
Wednesday evening in Domkhedi village on the banks for the Narmada River.
They had been standing in the three-foot deep water since early Wednesday
morning.
The police had to resort to dragging and beating to arrest the protesters.
As the police carried them away, a steady stream of villagers took their
places in the waist deep water, according to eyewitness Sanjay Sangvai.
The villagers and activists have vowed to remain on their lands and die in
the waters now rising in the Narmada Valley rather than be forced onto
resettlement sites. They insist that life in resettlement sites is not
worth living.
Among those arrested are Medha Patkar, who is a commissioner of the World
Commission on Dams, and other well known activists Ranyabhai Padvi and
Devrambhai Kanera.
The Chief Secretary of the state of Maharashtra is on his way to Domkhedi.
The backwaters of the Sardar Sarovar Project started rising from the
morning of August 10.
The government of India has yet to give authorization to increase the $8.1
billion Sardar Sarovar Dam from its current height of 88 meters to a final
height of 163 meters. If the dam and its associated irrigation system are
completed, it will force the eviction of more than half a million people
from their lands. A Supreme Court ruling earlier this year lifted a
four-year moratorium on the dam's construction and the dam wall has gone
up from 80.3 meters to 88 meters.
Anti-dam campaigners have been protesting since June 20 in Domkhedi and
Jalsindhi villages against what they call "the unjust submergence imposed
on them by the illegal construction on Sardar Sarovar Dam before the
monsoon." This is the monsoon season in India, when heavy rains lash the
region. Reservoirs behind new dams are normally filled at this time of the
year.
Campaigners call their drive "Satyagraha." Satyagraha means a fight for
truth. It evokes a similar term used by India's nationalist champion
Mahatma Gandhi when he launched a drive against British colonialism in the
1940s.
The foremost campaign group, Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save The Narmada
Campaign), said, "In Jalsindhi, another Satyagraha place, the water was
hardly two feet below the Satyagraha house and the three main activists,
Sitarambhai, Luhariyabhai and Rehmat and others are prepared to face the
submergence waters. Government officials merely came to 'inform' the
people and went off."
Earlier this week, police toured some of the villages with a warning
asking campaigners to go to safe places. The people and activists made it
clear that they would not move out of the satyagraha house in face of
potential drowning.
Campaigns over the Narmada got a sudden boost within India and abroad when
an internationally acclaimed Indian prize winning novelist, Arundhati Roy,
took the side of the campaigners and articulately pressed their case. Many
mainstream papers in India have been widely covering the issue in recent
days.
The United States based International Rivers Network (IRN) is denouncing
the Indian government for its role in the events now unfolding in the
Narmada Valley. The group is calling on the Indian government to halt any
further construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. IRN has opposed the
project and worked closely with the Narmada Bachao Andolan for the past 10
years.
Juliette Majot, executive director of International Rivers Network spent
July 4 to 16 in India, in villages now flooded by the monsoon rains behind
the Sardar Sarovar Dam. "This is not a natural disaster caused by the
monsoon," said Majot. "It is a manmade disaster caused by a dam for which
the government of India is responsible."
While thousands of people now stand to be displaced or drowned due to
flooding caused by the dam, people already resettled face severe problems.
Resettlement in fragmented units has torn apart families, communities and
cultures. In rehabilitation sites, people face shortages of land and
water, and many suffer from lack of fuelwood, fodder and poor sanitation.
In resettlement sites visited by Majot, villagers reiterated that
conditions are unacceptable: land offered is inadequate for cultivation;
freshwater supplies are insufficient or unavailable; housing is built of
inappropriate materials for the climate. With no access to forest products
such as fruits, firewood, and medicinal plants, villagers, particularly
children, were experiencing health problems and hunger.
"What choice do we have but to submerge ourselves? I've tried to find the
person to answer this question, but there is no one," Batu Narmadya told
Majot in the village of Domkhedi.
Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved.