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DAM-L LS: MP Government Preparing to Submerge Dhar Tribals (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 14:04:55 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: LS: MP Government Preparing to Submerge Dhar Tribals
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>Narmada Bachao Andolan
>Jail Road,Mandleshwar,District Khargone, M.P.
>Telefax; 07283-331622
>E-mail; nobigdam@vsnl.com
>
>Press note , 16.02.2001
>
>Madhya Pradesh government preparing to submerge Dhar tribals
>
>“Contractor’s interests are more important to Madhya Pradesh
>government than Adivasi’s livelihoods””
>Exposing completely its callous attitude towards the tribal
>populations of the state, the Madhya Pradesh Government has
>increased the pace of the work on the spillway section of the Man
>Project, so that several hundreds of tribal families will lose their
>homes and lands to the waters this monsoon itself. It is noteworthy
>that the hundreds of tribal families who the government intends to
>flush out like rats this monsoon-are yet to be rehabilitated and
>will have no where to go when their homes and lands are submerged.
>Police is being deployed in large numbers at the dam site and is
>also entering the affected villages and are threatening people and
>asking them to leave their villages.
>The Narmada Bachao Andolan condemns the repressive and completely
>unconstitutional and illegal actions of the Madhya Pradesh
>government and demands that work on the spillway section of the dam
>must be immediately stopped and the affected tribal families must be
>resettled with agricultural lands. In the event that the government
>continues with the construction, unmindful of the imminent
>submergence of the tribals, the affected people will be forced to
>intensify their struggle for their rights..
>The Man Project is a large dam being built on the Man river and one
>of the 30 large dams being built in the Narmada valley and will
>submerge the lands and homes of several hundreds of tribal families
>in 17 villages that include Khedi- Balwadi, Khanpura, Rehtiaon and
>others. It may be noted that the Man Project received the legally
>binding environmental clearance from the Central Environment
>Ministry in 1994. The condition of the clearance was that the
>affected tribals must be resettled with non- forest agricultural
>land. The state government policy for the oustees of the Narmada
>Projects that was made in 1987 and firmed in 1992 also required that
>the affected people must be resettled with land for land. Despite
>this from 1991 to 1994, the state government completely violated the
>conditions of the environmental clearance and the provisions of its
>own policy and finished the rights of the people with paltry amounts
>of cash compensation..
>As a result, in 1994, the Appraisal Committee of the Central
>Environment Ministry blacklisted the Man Project for complete
>violation of the conditions of the environmental clearance. In 1997,
>when the oustees were given eviction notices, they organized
>themselves under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao Andolan and raised
>their voices. After a long struggle, in April -May 1999, the Madhya
>Pradesh government agreed to constitute a committee for the
>rehabilitation of the affected people. This committee which was
>constituted under the chairmanship of the Narmada Minister comprised
>of the affected people, elected representatives , government
>officials and members of the Narmada Bachao Andolan - Shri Rehmat
>and Chittaroopa Palit..
>The government order of 2nd May, 1999 clearly stated that no
>construction work could be carried out that would endanger any
>affected person whose rehabilitation had not been done. But despite
>this clear order, from October, 2000 onwards the state government
>began work on the spillway section of the dam ,thus creating a
>situation of imminent submeregence of hundreds of tribal families
>who are yet to be rehabilitated . The Man affected tribals then
>held an impressive rally in Dhar on the 24th of January this year
>demanding immediate stoppage of work and rehabilitation of the
>affected people . Subsequently after representations to the NVDA
>,the work on the spillway section of the dam was stopped by a
>government order of 30th January. But on the initiative of the Chief
>Minister Shri Digvijay Singh , as per public statement given by
>local Congress MLA Shri Karan Singh Pawar, the work was again
>restarted. It is clear that contractor’s interests matter more to
>the Chief Minister than the survival concerns of the tribals.
>Knowing the complete lack of rehabilitation of the Man oustees, the
>elected representative then contended that most of the people
>affected by the Man Project have been rehabilitated in Gujrat, a
>statement that is completely untrue and laughable ..
>It may be noted that the Madhya Pradesh government has showcased the
>District of Dhar by publicizing the Gyandoot Yojna - a program to
>provide information access to the tribals through the use of
>computers. It received the Stockholm Challenge Award for this scheme
>and this was the sole entry of the MP government in this year’s
>Republic day parade in Delhi. But the reality of the concern and the
>responsiblity of the state government towards the tribals of this
>district is evident by the attempt of the government to uproot the
>tribals with the use of police and water..
>The Narmada Bachao Andolan reiterates its condemnation of the
>repressive and callous attitude of the state government , and
>demands that all work on the spillway section of the dam should be
>stopped , an emergency meeting of the Rehabilitation Committee
>should be held and the work of the rehabilitatoion of the affected
>tribals should be started in earnest. The Narmada Bachao Andolan and
>the affected people have already informed and petitioned the Central
>Ministry of Environment , Social Welfare Ministry and the National
>Commission of Scheduled Tribes and Castes during the last week ,in
>this regard..
>The Andolan alerts the government that if it still continues with
>its criminal actions , the affected people will be forced to stop
>the dam themselves and enter an intense struggle for the protection
>of their right to life..
>Govind Rawat Bondribai Alok Agarwal
>Chittaroopa Palit
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