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dam-l LS: People's Tribunal Report on SSP Resettlement
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park, Baroda-390007 * 58, Gandhi Marg, Badwani, M.P.
(Phone- Baroda 0265-382232* Badwani- 07290-22464 )
Press Note/ July 23, 2000
MAHARASHTRA GOVT. VIOLATED NARMADA TRIBUNAL IN RESETTLING NARMADA OUSTEES:
INDIAN PEOPLE'S TRIBUNAL REPORT
" The Government of Maharashtra has not yet been able to
satisfactorily resettle and rehabilitate even the oustees displaced
by the partial completion of the Sardar Sarovar dam at a height of
80.3 meters, while the land available for the resettlement of the
prospective oustees was totally inadequate. Therefore the raising of
the dam height of the dam beyond 85 meters would lead to the
displacement, which completely contravenes the provisions of the
Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award (NWDTA)... In no case the people
were shifted a year before the submergence as the Tribunal
recommends."
These are the conclusions of the recently published report of the
Indian People's Tribunal (IPT) headed by Justice (Retd.) Rambhushan
Mehrotra, former judge of the Allahabad High Court and the President
of the Delhi unit of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). The
IPT held a public hearing about the status of the rehabilitation of
the resettlement of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) oustees in
Maharashtra and the possibilities of the land availability and
satisfactory resettlement. The hearings were held at the resettlement
sites in Nandurbar district from March 19-21, 1999, in which the
oustees on the resettlement sites, their organisation, Punarvasan
Sangharsha Samiti (PSS) and the top government officials responsible
for the resettlement made presentations. Local members of legislative
Assembly, political parties, journalists also participated and made
presentations. Noted economist Vijay Paranjapye also was a member of
the IPT team.
After the detailed hearings, field visits and perusal of the
documents the Mehrotra committee concluded that the Government of
Maharashtra has violated the even the conditions of the Maharashtra
government's Rehabilitation Policy (1991-92) about providing the land
to the landless oustees and major sons and could not resettle even
the oustees which were displaced till 1999. With the details of the
land availability records, the Committee observed that, despite the
best intentions, the government officials were unable to show the
lands for the resettlement to the oustees' organisations, despite the
repeated appeals to show the lands during the past year.
The Committee also pointed out the serious issue of the 'encroachers'
tribals and the apprehension of their displacement. " Displacing the
existing population to provide land to the oustees of the SSP, will
in our opinion, only give rise to more problems rather than
solutions", said the committee.
The IPT recommended that the Maharashtra government should prepare a
Master Plan of the resettlement according to the provisions of the
NWDTA and made available to the people before any further
construction on the dam. An independent committee consisting of the
government officials, representatives of project affected persons and
of the organisations working in the area be constituted to identify
the project affected communities and families, ascertain
availability, identity and adequacy of the land for resettlement. It
asserted that all the stipulations regarding the community
resettlement must be adhered strictly. It has also made it clear that
" no further construction on the dam or an increase in height should
be permitted till the aforesaid recommendations are satisfactorily
complied with."
The Maharashtra government has procured over 4200 hectares of prime
forest land in Taloda and Akkalkua regions for the resettlement (
2750 ha. in 1991 and 1500 ha. in 1994), as it had no cultivable land
for resettlement. At each phase, the government claimed that the
forest land was sufficient for the resettlement, now sensing that
this land too would not be adequate, the state government is in the
process of demanding more forest land for the resettlement. In this
case Justice Mehrortra recommended that, " Dereserving and clearing
up of forest land is an environmentally damaging option for providing
land for rehabilitation. Besides the identified forest lands are not
free from the claims from earlier occupants. Hence, further
dereserving of forest land must be stopped."
The IPT observed that " claims made by the oustees are genuine, since
none of the government officials present at the time of the hearing
could give facts or information to the contrary... rather they
confirmed the submissions made by the people and those of the
supporters, politicians, reporters etc". It observed that, "....The
existence of such a large number of oustees without any land grossly
violated the provisions of NWDTA... government has violated every
other clause such as providing cash compensation, housing material,
medical facilities, schools and other benefits."
Despite all these facts regarding the oustees upto 80.3 meters, the
Maharashtra lawyer in the Supreme Court, in February 1999, was
claiming that the resettlement was satisfactory and Maharashtra has
the land for the oustees upto the height of the 110 meters. The state
government has also been filing false affidavits regarding the
resettlement. The people affected in Maharashtra along with the
resettled people confronted the Resettlement officials and Collector
of Nandurbar many times and challenged them to show the lands claimed
to be available in the affidavits. However, the officials were unable
to do so. This year, at the end of the final hearing of the public
interest writ petition by Narmada Bachao Andolan against the SSP, the
Court has directed the state governments of Maharashtra and Madhya
Pradesh to set up the Grievance Redressal Authority (GRAs) on the
lines of the GRA in Gujarat. The Court has asked the GRAs to go into
the status of the rehabilitation that has been done hitherto, whether
it has been according to the NWDT or not; and also assess the
prospects of the future resettlement and the status of land
availability for the future rehabilitation and resettlement according
to the NWDT provisions.
Sanjay Sangvai
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Please note my new address <sanjay@narmada.org>