Against Modi claim of lighting up 10,000 villages, hundreds of Narmada oustee sites have power only on paper

A Namada oustees' protest

Counterview Desk
Fresh facts, released by the powerful anti-dam Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) suggest, far from Government of India claim that more than 10,000 villages out of 18,000 targeted have been “electrified” ahead of schedule, corruption is rampant at the grassroots level, leading to failure to provide power to the rural areas.
NBA, in a detailed note, has revealed that a large number of oustees living in rehabilitation colonies, “housing” Madhya Pradesh oustees of the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat, may not have been provided with power and are possibly living in the dark.
Based on a study carried out by the Maulana Azad Technological Institute, Bhopal, and Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, in 88 rehabilitation sites, the note says, in all 519 transformers were declared to have been bought, but the study team could see just 180 of them.
The study was carried out for the Justice Jha Commission of Inquiry into charges of corruption in the rehabilitation of Sardar Sarovar dam oustees. “Of those 180 transformers, whose certificates were shown to the team, 96 of them did not have any signature of the contractors”, the note reveals.
“The issue is, did the transformers ever reach contractors to light up rehabilitation sites?”, the note wonders, adding, “Not just this, of those whose certificates were found to have been signed, 94 did not have the signature of the electricity inspector, as required by the electricity security rules, 1956.”
Suspecting a huge nexus between politicians, government officials and contractors, NBA says, “The issue is, how many of these transformers were actually installed in the rehabilitation sites”, adding, “Facts such as these suggest that the rehabilitation sites are not worth living. The government must order a fresh study by expert institutes.”
“Facts further suggest”, says NBA, “That the basic infrastructure provided to the rehabilitation sites is or poor quality. It is not provision of power which proves this, even the type of land provided to the oustees also suggests this is the case.”
“While rehabilitating the oustees, the government did not care to find out whether the land chosen for the site is good for agriculture. Even the basic design and maps were not prepared before asking oustees to shift to these sites”, NBA says.
According to NBA, details of the sites, as provided by the Jha Commission report, suggest that as against the claim of 307 schools in the sites where inspection was carried out, there were just 109 schools. As against the claim of 111 panchayat bhawans, only 67 existed, And as against 111 godowns to store the seeds, just about 64 were made.
Seeking strict action against the engineers and officials responsible for such huge corruption, NBA insists, “Facts reveal that there were a large number of fake registries for providing land to the oustees.” Thus, it says, contrary to the government claim that of the 2,818 registries, just about 758 were fake, the Jha commission found that in all 1,589 registries are fake.
“Of these, 999 registries are fake because even the signatures and the names entered as fictitious, while others have in them incomplete details”, the note says, adding, “Then there are a few others which still need to be examined.”

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

50 years of the Port of Spain miracle: The chase that redefined Indian cricket

By Harsh Thakor* Fifty years ago, India turned the tide to rewrite cricket history, rising from the depths of despair to a moment of enduring glory. Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, is celebrated among cricket grounds for its poetic beauty. For India, it became a theatre of historic triumph. In 1976, it showed the cricketing world what it was made of.

Search This Blog