Skip to main content

NGT imbroglio: Downstream people "to approach" a non-existent Narmada Tribunal?

By Shawahiq Siddiqui*
It was a sad Republic Day for the poor and vulnerable communities in the downstream of the Narmada Basin as their plea for protecting their fundamental and legal right to water and environment covered under right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution goes unheard by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Ironically, this comes almost on the eve of Republic Day when we embark upon celebrating the adoption of the Constitution of India that champions the protection of life and liberty as cornerstones of fundamental rights.
The alarming environmental deterioration in the 157 km river stretch including the Narmada Estuary caused due to insufficient downstream flows below the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat was brought to notice of the country’s Green Court by the Bharuch based Narmada Pradusan Nivaran Samiti (NPNS) and the Bharuch Citizen Council. While the Tribunal admitted the matter more than six months ago, it precluded itself from hearing the case on merits.
In the Tribunal’s understanding since the Narmada Tribunal still exists (perhaps it’s referring to the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal that ceased to exist as per the Award of 1979 itself), all the violations of existing environmental laws and inadequacy of the downstream flows can be looked into by the Narmada Tribunal. The NGT while passing the Order has also acknowledged that in addition to the Narmada Tribunal, there is a Narmada Control Authority but recommended to approach the “Tribunal” instead, that no longer exists.

Not as the first step

NGT was not approached as the first step in view of a series of environmental violations that have occurred in the downstream of Narmada Basin over a period of many years. For more than two years numerous representations have been filed to all the authorities concerned with the Sardar Sarovar Dam that control the water and flows in the Narmada Basin.
A plethora of letters and interdepartmental communications that have been doing rounds on the issue of serious environmental impacts of negligible flows from the Sardar Sarovar Dam had been placed on record before the NGT. All the concerned departments including the Narmada Control Authority mandated for implementing environmental safeguard measures in the entire Narmada Basin, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited which is responsible for regulating the downstream flows and the Government of Gujarat have acknowledged that they were approached by the NPNS on the issue of downstream flows on earlier occasions.
These agencies have also admitted that issues with respect to the severe impacts of negligible flows in the downstream exist and inadequacy of existing flow of 600 cusecs as highlighted vociferously in the media, VIP references, and numerous representations received from downstream communities is in their knowledge.
Taking cognizance of the alarming situation a senior official of the Gujarat Government emphatically recommended to the Narmada Control Authority that an immediate release of 1,500 cusecs for downstream use shall be provisioned till the permanent solution for ensuring adequate flows could be arrived at. Several other letters have been written by the Member of the NCA itself to SSNL.
These admitted violations and official recommendations over a period of two years formed part of the record before the NGT. However, NGT ordered that all the aspects of the matter brought before it be placed before and decided by the Narmada Tribunal, a non-existent entity.

Where do people go now?

The NGT has asked the impacted people to approach a forum that ceased to exist four decades ago soon after it delivered the Narmada Award in 1979. Even if the Narmada Tribunal trusted by the NGT was to exist, it could not have been able to provide any relief to the downstream cause of the River as it did not have the requisite mandate for addressing the grievances related to the environmental violations and downstream flow.
The inter-state water dispute tribunals in the case of Narmada was constituted by the central government based on references made by the state of Gujarat on the issues of equitable sharing of Narmada waters among the riparian states. The Narmada Tribunal did not have any mandate on adjudication of environmental issues. Nor does the Award that it delivered have any environmental protection mechanism – a shortcoming that has been highlighted by the UK based hydrological expert agency in its Report that has been accepted by the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited.
At the same time the Narmada Award of 1979 does provide that the states are free to allocate waters from within their shares and Government of Gujarat may release water for downstream use and even provides that the such flows for the downstream are to be released through the turbines.
What is pertinent is that the Award of 1979 created the machinery namely the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) which was amplified to include various sub-groups including the sub-group on Environment Protection to look into environmental issues in the entire Narmada Basin that would arise in future due to impoundment of river Narmada.
It is the NCA that has miserably failed to protect the downstream environment pari passu as was required by the Prime Minister’s conditional Environmental Clearance and as per the Narmada Scheme. The NGT’s Order relegates the downstream communities to the same agencies whose inaction has resulted in the violation of valuable right to environment of downstream communities.
But now the difficult question before the poor downstream communities is where should they go as per the directions of the Tribunal since the forum it directs them towards no longer exist? And if we could listen to voice of Narmada, as it ceases to speak now without flows, who should the river go to when the regime instituted to protect it, namely the NCA and the other state agencies have failed to discharge their statutory obligations and since the country’s top Green Court established on the mainstreamed principles of international environmental law has ordered its cause to be taken to agencies that either are non-existent or are liable themselves of the state of the dead and dried up Narmada in the downstream.
---
*Environmental lawyer based in New Delhi. Views are personal and do not reflect the views of any institution or agency. Contact: Shawahiq.ielo@gmail.com

Comments

Unknown said…
Surprised!!! Our natural resources, ownerless, and wonder here & there like national citizen of countrt

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

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.

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".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Regional political dynamics 'leading to' institutional violence in SAARC University

By Sandeep Pandey*  South Asian University is a university set up in Delhi by member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives – which is open to students from all these countries. However, as SAARC is receiving little attention these days because of regional political dynamics, it appears as if SAU has lost significance too. Because of the hiatus in peace process between India and Pakistan, the Board of Governors of this University is dysfunctional.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.

'Vulgar display of wealth': Govt of India using G20 presidency for political, electoral gains

Counterview Desk  Seeking endorsement for a public statement on India's G20 Presidency, several people’s movements, trade unions and other civil society groups have come together to say that not only will G20 and its priorities “will worsen economic, social and climate crisis”, already, India’s presidency is being used “for vulgar display of pomp & for electoral gains.”