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dam-l LS: Env Ministry Criticises Maheshwar Resettlement



>Press release-28/10/99
>Environment Ministry puts Maheshwar project in dock.
>Revoke environmental clearance: NBA
>
>          An important report received recently from the Ministry of
>Environment and Forests (MOEF), has stated that the state government and
>project authorities of the Maheshwar project have been unable to show any
>arrangements or cultivable land for the rehabilitation of the project
>oustees and that the oustees have been kept in the dark. These grave
>conclusions reached by the Ministry of Environment and Forest support and
>confirm the questions raised by the mass struggle of the affected people of
>the area and the NBA since the last three years. In the context of the
>findings of this report, the NBA calls upon the Ministry of Environment and
>Forest to immediately revoke the conditional environmental clearance of the
>project and to stop all work on the project.
>
>	It maybe noted that the Environment Ministry had stipulated in its
>conditional clearance of 7, January 1994 that all persons affected by the
>Maheshwar Project must be rehabilitated and resettled by 1997-98. This
>environmental clearance which is a statutory requirement also clearly stated
>that the Environment Ministry reserves the right to revoke the Environmental
>Clearance of the Project (under the Environment Protection Act 1986) in case
>of violation of the stipulated conditions.
>
>  	The Madhya Pradesh's Government rehabilitation Policy for the
>oustees of
>the Narmada Project (1997) which stipulates 'land for land' based
>rehabilitation was strengthened by subsequent clearance conditions which
>stated that this package must be extended to adult sons, landless people and
>encroachers. The clearance also stated that land capability surveys must be
>done in order to establish the cultivability of lands. The clearance letter
>also stated that project work can only be initiated after all arrangements
>for rehabilitation and environmental mitigation are in place. But these
>conditions are being blatantly violated
>.
>	It was when the project promoters were unable to offer or give
>cultivable
>agricultural land to a single project affected family, and all the
>significant conditions of the environment clearance continue to be violated,
>that the NBA petitioned the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1998,
>demanding that the clearance be immediately revoked. Following this petition
>a joint team of officials from the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
>Rural Development Ministry and Water Reservoir Ministry conducted a field
>visit in the Maheshwar Project impact zone on 14-15 of October '98.
>
>	The investigation report has accepted that while the State's
>Rehabilitation
>Policy provides for 'land for land', there actually exists no agricultural
>land for the rehabilitation of the Project Affected People. This, despite
>the fact that arrangements should have been completed by1997-98 as per the
>conditional clearance of the Environment Ministry.
>
>	Giving the example of Jalud, the first village to be affected by the
>Maheshwar dam, the report says, 'the lands of Jalud village are deep,
>fertile and black cotton soil, irrigated by pipelines drawn from the Narmada
>river and follow three crop rotations in a year. It is clear why the naked
>barren hillock of Samraj Ki Bedi is unacceptable as a rehabilitation site
>and allotments of lands to the displaced people of Jalud village". The team
>noted that here, "agriculture is quite impossible" because " the topography
>of the land is undulating. It is likely that heavy monsoon rains will wash
>away the soil spread over there and make the soil infertile again. Thus, it
>doesn't seem to be a permanent solution to transform a barren land into a
>cultivable land."
>
>	The report also accepted that the project-affected area is
>"prosperous and
>wealthy." Apart from land, other important resources which the livelihoods
>of the landless dalits, kevats and kahars of the area are dependent, include
>sand quarries, fishing, riverbed drawn down agriculture. These resources
>which will be permanently submerged afford today a wage of upto Rs. 400 a
>day
>.
>Prior to taking a decision on whether to revoke the environmental clearance
>of the project or not the report has clearly recommended that, the project
>authorities must identify and demonstrate sufficient agricultural land for
>the rehabilitation of the oustees of the Maheshwar project. It is also
>recommended that all blasting work on the project site must be stopped until
>the affected people of Jalud are resettled elsewhere.
>
>	The conclusions of the Ministry of Environment and Forests report has
>confirmed the contentions of the NBA that the Maheshwar project is
>destructive, and that the project promoters have neither land nor plan for
>the rehabilitation of the affected people. It is also clear that the
>electricity to be produced by this project will be prohibitively expensive -
>over Rs.7 per unit and outside the reach of farmers, domestic sector and
>small industries.
>
>	The Task Force constituted by the Madhya Pradesh Government had in its
>report of October '98 suggested several cheaper, less destructive and better
>options to the Maheshwar project .The state government and project
>authorities must accept these facts and immediately stop the project and
>implement alternatives. The NBA calls upon the Ministry of Environment and
>Forest to revoke  the environmental clearance of the project and stop all
>work.
>
>(Narayan Chauhan)
>Village Gogawan(Maheshwar)
>Madhya Pradesh
>District Khargone
>
>(Alok Agarwal)
>N.B.A.
>District Badwani
>Madhya Pradesh
>
>