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dam-l LS: Letter from Medha to Vajpayee
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Please find the English version of the letter written by Medha Patkar of
Narmada Bachao Andolan to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. A.B.
Vajpayee. The letter from the P.M. was delivered on September 24, by a special
officer in Prime Minister's Office, while Medha and 386 satyagrahis in
Narmada valley were in Dhule jail. The original letter by Medha Patkar
is in Hindi. The Prime Ministers' letter of September 22, 1999, was
already circulated and also was given to media by the government.
Dhule District Jail
September 28, 1999
Hon'ble Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee,
Prime Minister, Government of India
Hon'ble Mr. Vajpayeeji,
We received your letter making a sensitive appeal regarding the decision
and announcement of 'Jal Samrpan' by the Narmada Bachao Andolan at this
juncture in the fourteen year long struggle. On behalf of NBA and I
myself thank you for that. You have expressed special concern
regarding the destitution and destruction in the life of the
people displaced and affected by the development projects, about
the concept of the just resettlement which has not been realised yet and
its implementation. Your suggestion that the issue of Narmada Project is
highly complex and is not amenable to facile solution is also true.In
this context, assuring us about the better rehabilitation of the
affected persons, you have expressed concern about my and my
colleagues' life.
We have received your letter through a conscentious official with you,
Ms. Aditi Mehta in Dhule jail. We have been kept in Dhule jail by the
Maharashtra police after arresting us under flimsy charges when we were
on dharna in Dhadgaon. We were taken into custody for three times,
while facing the submergence waters as a sequel to the four month old
Satyagraha. In Dhadgaon, the tehsil headquarters, we were demanding that
the Government of Maharashtra should send the Chief Secrtetary or the
similar responsible and knowledgeable official to talk with the people
on the basic issues. The state government has not kept its word
regarding the reassessment of the project and the rehabilitation plan,
despite discussions with the Chief Minister in May and July 1998, with
our initiative.
The life of the peasants and adivasis in the Narmada valley is
threatened with destruction in real sense. The people displaced by the
half completed projects like Tawa and Bargi, in the Narmada valley,
have already become destitute. Now, about 4,00,000 people
affected by the Sardar Sarovar dam - its reservoir, people affected by
canals, dykes, colony, afforestation, sanctuary for the project are to
be displaced without any master plan of rehabilitation with the land and
other resources. Those who have been displaced hitherto could not get
justice till this date, despite somewhat better policy and provisions
in the SSP. It is due to the lack of the culturable land, political
will and administrative capacities. There is large scale discontent in
the resettlement sites in Gujarat and Maharashtra. In such a situation,
is it justiceable to submerge thousands of people who have not moved out
from the villages in the Sardar Sarovar area?
Along with the tragedy of the displaced, there are other equally
pertinent issues. Is it just to impose any river valley project on the
people without their consent, without their say in the river water
disputes, without giving them the information reagding the cost-benefit
of the project, disregading their relation with the river, their culture
and nature? We cannot just be mute witness to to the definite detruction
of adivasis and peasants, village communities, of land, forest and water
bodies due to the SSP and the subsequent large dams like Narmada Sagar
and others. We have and will challenge this destructive
planning, to stop this destruction. Our non-violent struggle has
proceeded ahead, proving every point that we have raised at every step
during last fourteen years and has therefore reached at the crucial
juncture of 'Jal Samrpan'. We hope that you would understand this
with the same sensitivity which was reflected in your poem on Hiroshima
tragedy and others.
The assessment of the large dams like the Sardar Sarovar cannot be made
on the basis of the displacement-rehabilitation aspect alone;
other equally important aspects like the displacement and destruction,
cost-benefit, the realistic analysis of benefits are some of
the necessary parameters. It would be irrelevent to discuss merely the
rehabilitation aspect disregarding the strong challenge form our
organisation to the claims about benefits from the dam. The dam will
not solve the serious problem of water and drought of Kutch-Saurashtra
regions while the distribution of the benefits too is not equitable and
just. Knowing this, it becomes important to ask as to why the adivasis,
peasants and labourers should sacrifice their life and reousrces.Instead
of spending most of the irrigation allocations of Gujarat on this single
project, we appeal to concentrate all the attention, resources and power
for true, sustainable, decentralised alternatives, without the problem
of displacement.
As a powerful people's movement, we have adopted the
path of non-violent resistance in face of the fraudulent and repressive
means of the governments and the vested interests, keeping faith in the
democratic processes. We have also been facing the consequences of the
false statements made by the state governments in the Supreme Court. The
pertinent question is, on which forum, on which level would there be a
review of what is the truth or what is false. When there will be a
comprehensive review of the Sardar Sarovar Project on the basis of the
true paradigm of development, on the basis of sustainability and
justice? There is one way out, as of now, as the Madhya Pradesh
government has been demanding a full review of the dam with the new
tribunal. The reassessment of the twenty year old
calculations and conclusions regarding the cost-benefits can be
undertaken, with the public hearing of the affected people leading to a
thorough, comprehensive review of the dam. There is a difference between
the Cauvery-like disputes, which have been raging among the concerned
state governments and the Narmada issue. Here, it is the people
versus the rulers. In such a dispute, the appropriate intervention on
your part would be for the review of the claims of the cost, benefit of
the project in particular and of the water policy in general, raising
the basic issues and questions.
I believe that you long for a solution on the Narmada debate in view
of the equitable way of the use of the natural and human resources of
this country. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has been raising the basic
issues regarding the paradigm of development, process of the planning
and has suggested some solutions as its responsibility in consonance
with other movements from all over India. We think that you can treat
the Narmada debate as an opportunity for the Government of India under
your leadership. It will be important for us, if such an opportunity is
taken by the Government, understanding the people of the Narmada valley,
their organisation, their rights and the paradigm of development evolved
out of the struggle- of which the needs of Gujarat too form a part. We
would put forward our views regarding the review of the SSP without
allowing the work on the dam beyond the present height of 88 mts., how
to ustilise the pondage along with the our approach and programmes of
alternatives. Only this would save the life, not only of me and my
colleagues, but of the entire Narmada valley
Yours Truly,
Sd/
( Medha Patkar)