Skip to main content

Return unused land acquired for Narmada dam, oustees demand citing Modi's decision not to amend Land Acquisition Act

By Our Representative
In an important move, the Narmada dam oustees in Madhya Pradesh have demanded that the order to acquire their housing and agricultural lands should be “cancelled” and they should be given “full ownership rights” of the lands they possessed following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that the 2013 Land Acquisition Act (LAA) will not be amended any more.
Asserting that they all have automatically become the actual owners of their houses and/or agricultural lands that were acquired 10-15 years ago, the oustees have said, the acquisition of their plots should be deemed cancelled as on January 1, 2014 “as per section 24(2) of the LAA.”
In a representation to Madhya Pradesh’s state-level Narmada authority, Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA), 80-odd oustee families have said that, the LAA requires that if a piece of land remains unutilized for project development for five years, it should be returned to the owners.
“Our names should be entered through mutation on the said property”, the representation was quoted as saying by the powerful anti-dam movement, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), in a statement.

The NBA claimed, the oustees from village Pipri, Piplud, Chhota Barda and Bhilkheda of Badwani district and Chikhalda and Bhavaria of Dhar district, totaling about 80, have also filed their petitions before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Indore Bench, and have “already received a stay order against dispossession of their lands.”
The High Court has directed the state “not to elicit or even drown their properties”, according to the NBA, adding, “This is applicable to above 40,000 families residing in the submergence area of the Narmada dam and other dam projects on the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh.”
The NBA statement came on the 22nd day of the Jeevan Adhikar Satyagraha, in which hundreds of farmers, labourers and fisherpersons gathered at the district collector’s office in Badwani, which borders Gujarat, to protest against the ongoing construction of the Narmada dam, apprehending massive submergence.
“The oustees are confident the section of the LAA has already been interpreted by the Supreme Court in 2014 and 2015 in such a way that it prevents the Modi government and other lower courts from misinterpreting LAA in a particular way”, the NBA said.
“The Supreme Court has rightly interpreted that even if the 2013 Act section 24(2) gets amended or deleted, the ownership rights already granted under the Act since January 1, 2014, cannot be compromised with”, the NBA underlined.
Calling this a “great relief to the project affected people whose lands/houses were acquired years ago”, the NBA said, they received a “meagre compensation”, even as rehabilitation began much late, leaving many oustees “penniless”.
“Lack of rehabilitation planning and land resources have created a situation in which the“oustees become the losers as they cannot start a new life”, it added. Under construction on Narmada river in Gujarat, the Narmada dam’s height is being taken from 122 metres to 139 metres.

Comments

TRENDING

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

'State-sanctioned terror': Stop drone attack on Adivasis, urge over 80 world academics

Counterview Desk  A joint statement, “Indigenous Peoples’ Un-Freedoms and Our Academic Freedom: A Call for Solidarity”, endorsed by over 80 signatories, including international academics, activists and civil society organizations, as well as diasporic Indian academics and researchers, working with Adivasi (indigenous) communities in India, has made an urgent appeal to prevent future drone bomb attacks by the Indian state on Adivasi villages.

Biden urged to warn Modi: US can declare India as worst religious freedom offender

By Our Representative  During a Congressional Briefing held on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has wondered why the Biden administration should raise issues of mass anti-minority mob violence  -- particularly in Haryana and Manipur -- with Modi. Modi should be told that if such violence continues, the US will be “compelled by law” to designate India as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, she urged.