Skip to main content

More than 1,200 displaced storm NCA head office, challenge "illegal" decision to raise Narmada dam height

 
On July 2, about 1,200 women and men from the Narmada valley stormed and occupied the head office of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), Narmada Bhavan at Vijay Nagar, Indore, which is responsible for taking final decisions on the Narmada project. They were protesting against the Government of India's interim decision to raise the height of the Narmada dam from 122 metres (present) to 138.68 metres (final height), taken on June 27 in New Delhi. Result was, claimed a communique from National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), "the final meeting of the NCA with the participating states, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to finalize raising of the dam height was postponed".
"The decision to raise the dam by the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) sub-group of the NCA, chaired by secretary, Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, was taken despite the fact that it was earlier very critical of the proposal. It knew, not less than 40,000 families in the submergence are being affected even at the present dam height, as they they have not been rehabilitated with entitlements of land to farmers, alternative livelihood to landless, housing plots and amenities at the resettlement sites", the NAPM communique said, adding, "Since 1994 adivasi villages, and since 2000 densely populated villages, are being affected, and the largest number of them are Madhya Pradesh (193)."
The communique further said, "The decision was taken on the basis of false claims and reports by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It was taken as the basis for pushing the dam under political pressures from the Narendra Modi Government. Large sections of people were upset that the decision, which was to be finalized in the full NCA meeting. If the decision to raise the dam was encorsed, it would have been in utter violation of the Narmada Tribunal Award (1979), environmental norms, several judgments of the Supreme Court, and state level rehabilitation policies."
"Previously", the communique said, "the height of the dam was raised from 110 metres to 122 metres in a similar manner in 2006 which led to 21 days fast by Medha Patkar, Bhagwati Behan and Jamsing Bhai at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. Thereafter, permission was not granted, as every time it was clear that thousands of families remained to be rehabilitated. In Madhya Pradesh, a judicial commission of inquiry was appointed by the State High Court, when massive corruption was unearthed by farmers themselves. The state government itself had to admit that 686 land purchase registries were fake, while the actual figure could be 3,000 or even more. Inquiry by the Commission is on for the last five years."
Then, the Maharashtra government was always taking a stand that rehabilitation of hundreds of adivasis in the state must be completed prior to dam construction and submergence. "Yet"", said its new communique, secretary,rRehabilitation, seems to have misreported the position in the state. It is in this context that the people stormed the NCA office, raising every issue in rehabilitation, environment, cumulative impacts of all dams vis-à-vis regulation in the valley and the costs-benefits of SSP."
Following demands were put forward at the end of the agitation::
* R&R sub-group must withdraw its illegal decision, if already taken, and NCA should not finalize the same, admitting that more than 40,000 families are residing in the submergence area and most of those, affected at the present height are also not rehabilitated.
* NCA must not submit to pressures from states, but play a major and independent role in strictly monitoring and ensuring compliance with law, policies and judgements on rehabilitation and environment, through frequent field visits and investigation.
* Land should be identified for eligible farmers, including adivasis, to rehabilitated them, as per the Narmada tribunal award and Supreme Court Judgements and cash disbursement, as special package, must be stopped, for ever. Maharashtra should not offer cash package to the hilly adivasis in lieu of land.
* Right to fisheries should be granted to the fish workers, alternative livelihood to other landless, as per the NVDA’s Action Plan, 1993, recognized by the Apex Court.
* All major sons should be rehabilitated, with land, as per the Tribunal Award and Judgement of the Supreme Court, 2005.
* No further construction of the dam, including pillars and bridges, should be permitted at this stage, as it would increase submergence by 1.5 metres, as it would be committing contempt of court and people, both.
* NCA must ensure that all those who have faced losses (crop), labourers (houses), fish workers (fish, nets and boats) and shopkeepers (shops and material), potters etc. are compensated.
The mass action ended at 7:00 pm with agitators warning that if their houses and farms get submerged due to the Sardar Sarovar Project or water was released from upstream dams, as happened last August, they would be compelled to take shelter in the NCA office at the Narmada Bhavan.
"They also insisted that NCA must monitor compliance, fully and fairly, without relying on false statistics coming from the state; or else the people would be compelled to lock up the premises. When the Uttarakhand calamity has already taught a lesson, we cannot allow the Narmada valley to face the same, people from the most beautiful and ancient valley warned the officials", the communique said.

Comments

TRENDING

Breaking news? Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

60 crore in Mahakumbh? It's all hype with an eye on UP polls, asserts keen BJP supporter in Amit Shah's constituency

As the Mahakumbh drew to a close, during my daily walk, I met a veteran BJP supporter—a neighbor with whom we would often share dinner in a group. An amicable person, the first thing he asked me, as he was about to take the lift to his flat, was, "How many people do you think must have participated in the holy dip?" He then stopped by to talk—which we did for a full half-hour, cutting into my walk time.

An untold story? Still elusive: Gujarati language studies on social history of Gujarat's caste and class evolution

This is a follow-up to my earlier blog , where I mentioned that veteran scholar Prof. Ghanshyam Shah has just completed a book for publication on a topic no academic seems to have dealt with—caste and class relations in Gujarat’s social history. He forwarded me a chapter of the book, published as an "Economic & Political Weekly" article last year, which deals with the 2015 Patidar agitation in the context of how this now-powerful caste originated in the Middle Ages and how it has evolved in the post-independence era.

Morari Bapu echoes misleading figures to support the BJP's anti-conversion agenda

A senior Gujarat activist phoned me today to inform me that the well-known storyteller on Lord Ram, Morari Bapu, has made an "unsubstantiated" and "preposterous" statement in Songadh town, located in the tribal-dominated Tapi district. He claimed that while the Gujarat government wants the Bhagavad Gita to be taught in schools, the "problem is" that 75% of government teachers "are Christians who do not let this happen" and are “involved in religious conversions.”

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Justifying social divisions? 'Dogs too have caste system like we humans, it's natural'

I have never had any pets, nor am I very comfortable with them. Frankly, I don't know how to play with a pet dog. I just sit quietly whenever I visit someone and see their pet dog trying to lick my feet. While I am told not to worry, I still choose to be a little careful, avoiding touching the pet.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

New York-based digital company traces Modi's meteoric rise to global Hindutva ecosystem over several decades

A recent document, released by the Polis Project Inc.—a New York-based digital magazine and hybrid research and journalism organization—even as seeking to highlight the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India, has sought to trace Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meteoric rise since 2014 to the ever-expanding global Hindutva ecosystem over the last several decades.

Behind the scene? Ex-IAS, now Modi man in Yogi Cabinet, who lined up Mahakumbh VVIP comforts for Gujarat colleagues

The other day, I was talking to a senior IAS official about whether he or his colleagues had traveled to the recently concluded Mahakumbh in Allahabad, which was renamed Prayagraj by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as part of his intense Hindutva drive. He refused to reveal any names but said he had not gone there "despite arrangements for Gujarat cadre IAS officials" at the Mahakumbh VVIP site. "The water is too dirty—why take the risk?" he asked.