Apex court to Gujarat govt: Pay Rs 60 lakh compensation to 581 Narmada dam oustee families of Madhya Pradesh

In a major victory for Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar, who has led a relentless fight for about three decades for the Sardar Sarovar project affected families (PAFs), the Supreme Court has asked the Gujarat government to pay a whopping Rs 60 lakh compensation to Madhya Pradesh’s 581 PAFs each.
The amount, the Supreme Court has ruled, should be handed over to the oustees by July 31, 2017, and should be given to those who were offered a meagre Rs 5.58 lakh compensation by the Madhya Pradesh government as Special Rehabilitation Package (SRP), but failed to buy up 2 hectares (ha) of land they are entitled to.
The Rs 60 lakh cash would also be available to those who have not taken any cash from SRP or have taken 50% of SRP, i.e. Rs 2.79 lakh, and have not received land, which is their entitlement, said the apex court ruled.
The ruling by the Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice Kehar, Justice Chandrachud and Justice Ramanna further said that there are another 4,216 PAFs, who had accepted SRP, but got duped in the fake registry scam while getting land compensation. The bench ruled, they should be given Rs 15 lakh each oustee family.

Medha Patkar

The fake registry scam was unearthed by the Justice Jha Commission, appointed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2008 following complaints of large-scale corruption in providing land to PAFs.
Insisting that the whole process should be completed within two months’ time, the apex court directed the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to (R&R) sites in Madhya Pradesh, which the Justice Jha commission had investigated.
Those who receive cash of Rs 60 lakh would have to leave the land which is likely to go into submergence because of the Narmada dam July 31, 2017, the ruling said, even as directing the Grievance Redressal Authorities (GRAs) of the two states to redress all the oustees’ grievance related to resettlement sites and provide amenities.
The ruling is being interpreted as a clear admission that the rehabilitation of the Sardar Sarovar dam oustees is far from complete. Celebrating the victory, the NBA said, “The judgment is a victory for those who didn’t accept the meagre amount as ‘package’ and those who got cheated by corrupt officials and agents. NBA will continue peaceful struggle for others’ rights.”
As the main petitioner, the NBA stated, the judgment would help redress those farmer-adivasis and others who didn’t accept the meagre cash of 5.58 lakh for 2 hectares of land they were offered, adding, “Hundreds, who took only half of the cash package (SRP) since 2005, but demanded land and have not taken second installment, would also benefit.”
NBA insisted, with this judgment, the Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments “will have to allocate hundreds of crores of rupees since they have not allocated cultivable, irrigable land to the oustees in Madhya Pradesh.”
However, the NBA said, the issues of the landless, fishworkers and shopkeepers remains to be addressed, insisting, now pressure would now have to built up for them.

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