Illegal increase of Sardar Sarovar Dam to 100m:
violation of fundamental rights, SC ruling
On May 14th 2003, the Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) subgroup
of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) gave its “conditional recommendation”
to increase the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam from its present height
of 95m to 100m (The
Hindu, May 14, 2003). This “conditional recommendation” by
the subgroup and the subsequent approval by the full NCA occurred on May
15th (The
Hindu, May 15, 2003) in the face of abundant evidence that
the most basic requirements of fair and just resettlement and rehabilitation
of affected populations have not been met even at the current dam height
of 95m. This is borne out by both state sponsored studies such as the Justice Daud
Committee report on condition of oustees in the state of Maharashtra
and the subsequent Joint-Task Force commissioned by Maharashtra; and those
by independent and respected international groups such as the Housing and Land Rights
Network of Habitat International Coalition. For example, studies by the
joint task force in October 2002 at the current height of the dam (95m) found
that more than 3600 families remained to be rehabilitated (about 3100 families
remained near the river and 500 families had shifted to resettlement sites
but had not been granted land). This figure for Maharashtra alone implies
tens of thousands of people are yet to be resettled and the dam even at its
current height is in violation of the law. The condition of the affected
people in Madhya Pradesh is worse - a large majority of the 35,000 oustee
families are yet to receive rehabilitation. The MP government has openly
declared that there is no land available for the oustees and is giving cash
compensation, in violation of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT)
guidelines, which the Supreme Court upheld in 2000. At least 1500 families in Maharashtra and 12000 families in MP face submergence this monsoon due to the illegal increase in dam height without adequate rehabilitation.
As per the Supreme
Court judgment and the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Awards, resettlement
must precede submergence by at least six months. The arrival of the monsoon
in the next month or two would jeopardize their lives and livelihoods.An
overwhelming majority of project-affected persons are indigenous tribes (adivasis)
The serious problems with resettlement and rehabilitation are in violation
of adivasi rights protected under the Indian Constitution and international
conventions.
The state administrations are in continued breach of faith of their citizens.
On April 24th 2003, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Sushilkumar Shinde
in a meeting with affected persons recognized that several of them had not
been resettled and assured them that the state would not permit an increase
in the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam until full resettlement and rehabilitation
has occurred in the state. Shinde's promise has turned out to be worthless.
The move by the Narmada Control Authority was timed precisely to subvert
the authority of the Supreme Court The NCA meetings began soon after
the Supreme Court went into an extended summer recess from May 12 until July,
thereby making it difficult for the aggrieved people to approach the Court
for justice.
It happened last May as well !
Exactly one year ago in May 2002, the NCA had ordered an increase of the
dam height from 90 m to 95 m. The displaced people of the Narmada Bachao
Andolan or the Save Narmada Movement went in front of the Supreme Court’s
two-judge vacation bench. The two judges could not come to a consensus
on staying the dam construction and at the end of May referred it to a new
vacation bench that would sit in the month of June! Meanwhile the dam
was raised to 95 metres. The submergence that ensued in the monsoon
months of July, August and September swept away several houses, flooded many
fields and put thousands of families in danger in the remote hills of the
Narmada valley. The Maharshtra state government admitted to submergence without
rehabilitation and agreed for a Rs 35 lakh compensation for the immediate
short-term crop loss and damage. The families in the valley are still awaiting
their rightful land-for land rehabilitation.
Domkhedi submergence
(August 2002)
Medha and others in satygaraha
(Sep 2002)
satyagraha
in Jalsindhi (August 2002)
Narmada water in Kutch
The arrival of Narmada water in Kutch has been announced recently in the
media with fanfare by the Gujarat Government (The Hindu,
May 18, 2003). However, as in Rajkot and Ahmedabad, where
Narmada water was brought in just before the elections, this will do little
to alleviate the chronic water problem there. Furthermore, this is just the
drinking water component of the promised Narmada waters. The irrigation water
for 37,000 hectares of cultivable land in Kutch still remains a mirage.
Of the proposed irrigation of 18 lakh hectares from the project, only 1.6%
of the total cultivable land in Kutch (37,000 ha.) and 9.2% land of Saurashtra
would get water from the Sardar Sarovar Project.
