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dam-l LS: Articles on Water Minister's Desire for Out-of-Court
Settlement/Kar Seva Rally
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
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Minister favours out-of-court solution for SSP displaced
Thursday 18 November 1999
By Shailesh Pandya
The Times of India News Service
VADODARA: Union minister of state for water resources Bijoya Chakravarty
favours an out-of- court settlement with the affected people of the Sardar
Sarovar Project.
Talking to this newspaper after paying a visit to the site of the dam and
meeting the project-affected people (PAP) at Surya and Vadeli villages
along the Narmada on Tuesday, she said the matter could be settled amicably
on the lines of the Cauvery dispute.
``The delay behind Sardar Sarovar Project is due to lack of political and
administrative initiative resulting in big losses to the nation,'' she
said.
Chakravarty, accompanied by state minister Jay Narayan Vyas, Sardar Sarovar
Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) chairman Bhupendrasinh Chudasma and water
resources department secretary Hasan, spent eight hours at the site. She is
the first Union minister to visit the site whose work began nearly 12 years
ago.
``The Narmada basin has very large water flow going untapped for long which
is a national waste,'' she said. For an all-round development of the
western region, harnessing of the Narmada water is essential, she said.
Chakravarty assured everybody that funds would not come in the way of
completing the project. The Centre would ask other beneficiary states to
share the cost since Gujarat has already spent about Rs 8,500 crore, she
said.
``Why can't people see the positive side of the project ?'' she asked.
There is no need to constitute another tribunal on deciding the dam's
height. The question of lowering the height does not arise as it has been
fixed by the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT), she added.
**********
INDIAN EXPRESS FRONT PAGE Wednesday, November 17, 1999
Govt develops cold feet on NJA kar seva
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
VADODARA, Nov 16: The Gujarat Government, all along seen as having been
supportive of the kar seva planned by the Narmada Jan Andolan (NJA), seems
to have developed cold feet on the issue.
The NJA, an organisation recently set up by farm leader Sharad Joshi to
campaign for Narmada waters reaching drought-prone areas of Gujarat, has
all along enjoyed tacit support of the state government. The proposed kar
seva is a symbolic act: volunteers plan to pour water into the main canal.
Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel last week reportedly told NJA to postpone
the programme planned December 4 onward, while Narmada Development
Minister Jaynarayan Vyas on Tuesday told Express Newsline, ``The
intentions of the kar sevaks are good, but there are other ways of
achieving the demands. However, it will take a couple of days to make
things clear.''
Vyas said that the government was trying to work out a solution that would
ensure that nothing comes in the way of the early completion of the Sardar
Sarovar Project (SSP).
Asked if ban orders would be imposed at the dam site, the minister said
that question was be difficult to answer at the moment. He said the
government would decide in a few days whether to invite Joshi for talks.
The chief minister had reportedly told NJA to postpone the kar seva
stating that if it went ahead with the programme there was all likelihood
of the Supreme Court being prejudiced on the issue. Earlier, the Madhya
Pradesh chief minister had objected to the kar seva, stating that the
matter is pending in the Supreme Court.
Vyas, however, said he was unaware of what transpired between the chief
minister and NJA members at their meeting last week.
Meanwhile, at a meeting of heads of co-operative mandalis from various
parts of the district at the Sardar Bhavan, Joshi exhorted pro-dam
volunteers to go ahead with the kar seva irrespective of the government's
stand.
Coming down heavily on politicians, Joshi alleged that they were trying to
gain political mileage out of the Narmada issue. Observing that the
Narmada issue had become like gangrene, Joshi said that to solve the
problems a kar seva has been planned.
``If the Government thinks that we are doing anything wrong, it can arrest
us,'' he went on to say.
Joshi also criticised reported misconceptions being generated by certain
non-government organisations that the water would not reach Saurashtra and
that it would be taken away by sugar industries along the route of the
canal.
Despite some sadhus reportedly having backed out after the chief
minister's statement, Joshi tried to keep the spirits of those peresent
alive by stating that the programme would continue come what may.
Former finance minister Sanat Mehta stated that it was unfortunate that
the in Gujarat people do not stand up for their rights.
Gujarat Khedut Samaj president Bipin Desai said that European countries
were not interested in the state's progress.
Among those who spoke were Baroda Dairy chairman Upendrasinh Gohil and
president of Vadodara Khedut Mandal Vipin Patel.
The co-operative Mandali leaders promised milk for kar sevaks and the
farmers were asked to chip in with vegetables and fruits. Word was spread
that taluka level teams were being formed to assign responsibility for the
programme.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.