Save The Narmada, Save Humanity!

June 8, 2001 -- As the Narmada valley prepares for the another illegal, inhuman and fatal submergence threatening the farms and houses of over 5000 project affected families in three states, the Maharashtra government has been supporting the further work on the damundermining the rights of its own tribals and the cost-benefit of the project for the state. It is sure that the Sardar
Sarovar Project (SSP) would prove to be another Enron for the state and
government has to call a halt and review the project before it is too late.
From July 5, the people will launch the Satyagraha against the dam,
displacement and submergence at Domkhedi (Maharashtra) and Jalsindhi and
the Chhoti Kasaravad (M.P.) near the residence of Baba Amte, confronting
the submergence water.

The work on the SSP was stopped at the height of 90 meters and the Gujarat
government got the additional 3 meters of humps through pressure tactics
and manipulations. This has been done with callous disregard towards the
legal provisions in the Narmada Valley Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) award and
also the Supreme Court verdict, let alone theconstitutional and human
rights of the tribals in the Narmada valley. Even the oustees belowthe dam
height of 80 meters have not been resettled fully, the dam was allowed to
go upto 93 meters. This was illegal in itself. However, the dam had to be
stopped at 90 meters as the Resettlement sub-group and Environment
sub-group of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) have refused the
permission for the increase in the further height of the dam due to the
failure to complete the resettlement and the non-fulfillment of the
conditions. It is curious that while the government of Madhya Pradesh
opposed the increase in the height including the humps, the Maharashtra
government endorsed the Gujarat government's stand for erecting humps of
additional 3 meters while knowing fully the reality regarding the
rehabilitation. It is reprehensible that Maharashtra bureaucrats have no
compunctions to sacrifice the lives of the tribals in the state under the
pressure of Gujarat and the political leadership turning the blind eye
towards this impropriety of the officials. The government of Gujarat and
Maharashtra have acted in contravention of even the Supreme Court judgment
which stipulates that no construction beyond 90 meters should be undertaken
without the permission of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement sub-group of
the NCA. After these sub-groups refused the permission for the humps, the
Gujarat and Central governments connived to get the permission in a
fraudulent way, through the Attorney General of India, falsely claiming
that the effective height of the submergence will not increase even after
raising the humps. The governments have thus committed the contempt of the
court.

At present all the claims of Maharashtra government regarding
rehabilitation of the affected tribal families again stand exposed during
the public hearings before the Justice (retd.) Dawood committee, appointed
by the state government itself. As NBA has been arguing it would have been
prudent for the government not to allow work on the dam before the report
of this committee is submitted. The officials should have updated the
records of the land rights, entitlements of the tribals and prepare the
Master Plan for rehabilitation to prove the feasibility of this human task
with land for land for the affected families.. However, the bureaucracy and
the political leadership of Maharashtra still seem to be subservient more
to the interests of the Gujarat capitalists at the cost of the tribals from
their own state.

Another Enron

It is now proved that the project is not a solution for the drought
stricken areas and the Sardar Sarovar Project water is not meant for the
Saurashtra and Kutch. The Gujarat government has no money for the water
resource development in Kutch as 85-90% of the irrigation budget of the
state is spent on the single Sardar Sarovar Project. The recent gimmick of
the pumping the Sardar Sarovar Project water through the pumps into the
canals proves the point. The water is first taken for the metros of
Ahmedabad and Baroda while the real needy region remains out of bound. The
original drinking water plan of the SSP didn't include any city as
beneficiary. Now, therefore the plan seems to have changed and no one knows
how much has the original allocation for the Kutch and Saurashtra water has
been further reduced. The project is also a liability for the Maharashtra
government and its people.

With no irrigation, the state is to get 27% of the electricity that may be
produced from the dam. The NBA and other independent experts have shown
that the power from the Sardar Sarovar Project would be most uncertain and
miniscule for the state. And much of it would be only for a few years As it
is the improved calculations prove that the earlier calculations regarding
the water in the Narmada river was an overestimation. The upstream Narmada
Sagar Project is still to see the completion. As the canals of Sardar
Sarovar Project have preceded the dam, the damned water will be diverted
for the irrigation from the initial period itself. So the assurance of the
first 30 years of major part of electricity generation when the water would
not have been used for irrigation now stands negated. Furthermore, the
assured (firm) power is far less than the installed capacity of the power
generation from the dam. Thus, it is estimated that Sardar Sarovar Project
may contribute about 110 MW in the beginning to 20 MW in the end firm power
for Maharashtra. That is also uncertain on many technical and economic grounds.

However, Maharashtra is ready to sacrifice the lives and resources of over
5000 tribal families on the banks of Narmada. It has already sacrificed
10,000 hectares of forest, most of it prime forest of the state, in the
submergence zone ( 6800 ha.)or in the name of rehabilitation (4200 ha.) .
Above all this, the state has to shell anywhere upto Rs. 1200 crores as its
share in the project cost. This year, the state government has allocated
Rs. 84 crores as share of the Sardar Sarovar Project, while the local and
small irrigation schemes in Nandurbar and other needy districts, where the
affected villages are also situated, are starving of the funds as is
obvious from the successive budget allocations of the state.

The project would prove to be a liability for the state government as in
the case of Enron Power Project. The cost of this liability would be borne
by the tribals in Maharashtra for the sake of the capitalists in Gujarat.
The Maharashtra government is still not ready to issue the order for the
review of the cost-benefit of this project to the state, contrary to the
formal announcement by the Chief Minister on January 4. We demand that
Maharashtra should stop the further construction on the dam and must start
the review of the cost-benefit of Sardar Sarovar Project for the state.

As the people in the Narmada valley will be facing the submergence, the
government of Maharashtra will face the challenge to its credibility. At
this juncture, we expect that Maharashtra government, instead of resorting
to the same tactics of arresting and releasing the people facing
submergence would respond to the serious issues raised by them. It will be
far more fruitful to stop any work on the dam and have a review of the
cost-benefit of the dam to the state. It should pursue the basic issues of
rehabilitation raised through Dawood committee report and make the master
plan of rehabilitation with the consultation and consent of the people and
their organization, NBA, in the valley. Maharashtra government has both a
challenge and an opportunity to break a new path vis-a-vis Sardar Sarovar
Project and the issue of the displacement and development.

Vain Attempts

Of late, some elements have been making baseless allegations on myself and
NBA. Among them are some V.K. Saxena from an unheard of National Council
for Civil Liberties (NCCL) from Gujarat and Ms. Jamuna Devi, Deputy Chief
Minister from M.P. The NBA has issued legal notice to Ms. Jamuna Devi and
file a defamation case against Saxena. They will not be successful in
diverting the attention of the struggle in some trivial and patently false
matters. At the same time we reassert that all these allegations are
baseless and false, aimed to suppress the people's movement, which has been
a part of such attempts all over India.

For more information, contact:

Narmada Bachao Andolan

B-13, Shivam Flats

Ellora Park,

Baroda-390007

Tel: 0265-282232

Email: baroda@narmada.org

58, Gandhi Marg,

Badwani, Madhya Pradesh

Tel: 07290-22464

Email: badwani@narmada.org

• 116 Human Rights