Madhya Pradesh's 2.5 lakh people of 192 villages, one town "to face submergence": Narmada dam gates closed

Narmada dam's gates being closed

By A Representative
In a sharply-worded statement, well-known anti-dam organization, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), has described the Gujarat government announcement to close down the Sardar Sarovar Dam’s 30-odd gates as based on “false” representation of the ground realities.
“People of the valley are determined to fight against the evil forces which are anti-farmer, anti-development, and anti-land”, the statement said, pointing out that it would be met with stiff resistance, especially in Madhya Pradesh.
The announcement came following the Friday meeting of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), where Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments jointly agreed that since the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) of the project affected families (PAFs) was “over”, the gates could be closed and water could be filled up to 138.68 meters as against 121.92 metres as of now.
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, accompanied by his deputy Nitin Patel, visited the dam site on Saturday morning to observe the gates’ closure, which, it was claimed, would increase the dam’s storage capacity from 1.4 MAF (million acre feet) to 4.75 MAF. The leaders expected this would help uninterrupted supply was water to Saurashtra and North Gujarat for irrigation, drinking water and industry.

Coming ahead of the elections, scheduled late this year, the gates’ closure is being interpreted as having been in accordance with the recent Supreme Court order, which wanted all the formalities for R&R, especially in Madhya Pradesh, to be completed before July 31.

The state BJP rulers have planned a grand show in July-end or August first week, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to make a big show, announcing “completion” of the Sardar Sarovar project. A Narmada Yatra has also been planned.

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani at dam site

In its statement, NBA said, the documents, including the official reports and affidavits before the Supreme Court, as also orders of the Grievance Redressal Authorities (GRAs) in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, suggest that R&R remains incomplete, and the gates would be closed in “violation of the legal regime”, including the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award (NWDTA) and Supreme Court judgments.
“At least 40,000 families and 2.5 lakh people reside in the 192 villages of Madhya Pradesh and one town, which have been declared project affected. They are to be forcibly removed, if they do not move out with whatever little they have receive as R&R benefit”, the statement said.
Pointing out that there are “continuous protests going on in each of the affected districts and villages in Badwani, Dhar and Khargone” districts of Madhya Pradesh, the NBA said, “It’s obvious from the recent writ petition filed before the Indore High Court that even the latest order of the Supreme Court has not complied with.”
It added, “The R&R sites are not ready with civic amenities mandatory under the law for which tenders are being issued. The disbursement of the new package in lieu of land, directed by the Supreme Court, is far from complete. A few thousand applications by the eligible beneficiaries are pending before the GRA, Madhya Pradesh. Hundreds are pending before the GRA, Maharashtra, and GRA, Gujarat too.”

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

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

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah 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".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog