Madhya Pradesh using 'false' Narmada dam oustee figures of previous govt: Medha Patkar

Counterview Desk
In her strongly-worded letter to Gopal S Reddy, additional chief secretary, Narmada Valley Development Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has asserted that he and his government have "failed" to properly convey actual position of the Narmada dam oustees to the Central agency Narmada Control Authority (NCA) and the Government of India, a major reason why large areas upstream of the dam are facing submergence.
Patkar says, while the Madhya Pradesh government has admitted that the total number of villages that would face submergence is 178, it has refused to provide the number of oustees who would suffer. Also, it has refused to press upon the Gujarat government to reimburse Rs 1,857 crore for rehabilitating the oustees. Several letters on this and related issues have been forwarded to the Centre and Gujarat, but these have not been made public, keeping the oustees in the dark.

Text:

We know that you have been taking a stand against the Gujarat government, which is getting support from the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) to fill up the Sardar Sarovar dam up to the full reservoir level (FRL) of 138.68 metres during this monsoon. There is no doubt that this is necessary, considering the interests of the thousands of oustees in Madhya Pradesh.
However, as I stated in the meeting with the Madhya Pradesh chief secretary on August 24, 2019, we have intensely felt that the letter by the chief secretary to NCA on this issue, dated May 27, 2019, has quoted wrong figures and underestimated the scale of submergence.
The figure of 76 villages and 6,000 families to be affected by submergence at FRL of the Sardar Sarovar dam, i.e., 138.68 metres, is the figure of just one district, Dhar, and this excludes the three other districts, Alirajpur, Badwani and Khargon.
You may now note that the officials who might have briefed you, as well as the chief secretary, the minister concerned and the chief minister, have offered you wrong figures, something you have now accepted. The number of affected villages has been finally put at 178. However, no final figures of the affected families has been announced. Your have, however, admitted that the earlier surveys of many places might have been flawed, and hence are pending review.
May I ask you, the chief secretary, as well as the chief minister, whether you have written a single letter to NCA, as also the secretary, Union water resources ministry, and the Union minister concerned, quoting actual facts that would bring out the formidable scale of impact of submergence, compelling the authorities to review their decision?
If yes, will you kindly forward a copy to me of the any such letter/s, and if not, will you kindly ensure that these letters are sent?

I am shocked about what you have written a letter recently to NCA regarding water levels. You have questioned the NCA decision to take the water level in the dam to 134.50 metres by August 31. But you have not said anything about what water levels should be maintained during the month of September.
Is this, may I ask, your strongest possible argument in order to protect the interest of the oustees, who are in thousands? Don’t you think that the issue that needs to be raised should be more basic, especially focusing on the unjustifiable decision to raise the water level beyond 122 metres in order to avoid the submergence of property of the Narmada project affected families without full and proper rehabilitation, as it would violate law, policy as well as the fundamental human and Constitutional rights?
As you are aware, the Central ministry and NCA are depending their facts and figures on the basis of false affidavits filed by the former government of Madhya Pradesh showing zero balance in rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) during 2008-2016, which needed to be strongly challenged and rejected by taking a firm and fact-based position. The new state government and your department, as well as the Narmada minister, should have done this.
There are also many other points that were conveyed to you, the chief minister, and the minister in your presence, which can form a relevant basis for questioning and taking up issue of filling up the dam’s reservoir. For example, the Government of Gujarat has still not provided to you the required reimbursement of Rs 1,857 crore, which is mandatory as per the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award (NWDTA). It is unfortunate that this demand was put up as late as in July 2019.
Worse, this demand, as well as failure to get any response on this and other issues, have not been put in the public domain, which is surprising in the present situation of the devastating impact on the people, communities, and the natural ecosystem, including livelihood of farmers and other sections in the Sardar Sarovar dam-affected people.
I am writing this letter to you because I think that you should make a final scrutiny of facts and positions being taken up at your end before any briefing takes place at the level of the chief secretary or the chief minister.
I would like you to play a major role in putting together all the relevant and reliable facts that would help in carving out a clear and confident position on the part of the State government against the filling up of the Sardar Sarovar reservoir.
As you know, if this does not happen at a war-footing, nothing less than watery grave awaits the communities living in the upstream of the dam, and the State government will be held responsible for the role it is expected to play and legal mandate it should follow in the interests of the project affected families.
---
The letter has been slightly edited for style

Comments

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra* The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

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.

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".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Delhi HC rules in favour of retired Air Force officer 'overcharged' for Covid treatment

By Rosamma Thomas* In a decision of May 22, 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of petitioner Group Captain Suresh Khanna who was under treatment at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, between April 28 and May 5, 2021, for a period of eight days, for Covid-19 pneumonia. The petitioner had to pay Rs 3,55,286 as treatment costs, but the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) only reimbursed him for Rs 1,83,748, on the basis of government-approved rates.

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.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam* The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Savarkar 'opposed' Bhagat Singh's, Netaji's dream of India, supported British war efforts

By Shamsul Islam* In a shocking development, the student wing of the RSS put the busts of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose with Savarkar's on one pedestal at the University of Delhi late in the night on August 20, 2019. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for a socialist-democratic-secular republic and Netaji raised Azad Hind Fauj (INA) consisting of people of all religions and regions for armed liberation of India.

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”

Search This Blog