Senior Correspondent

NewsBits.in

Bhopal: A ‘rally for valley’ of Narmada Bachao Andolan activists and numerous supporting organizations started from Indore to Rajghat in Badwani on Friday.

On Saturday, July 30, protestors would start a ‘Narmada Jal, Jangal, Jameen Haq Satyagrah’ (water, forest, land rights sit-in) on the bank of Narmada (Rajghat) against the ‘gross injustice meted out to them in the name of rehabilitation for construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat’.

As the dam construction stands completed with only the final closing of the gates left to be done, more than 45,000 families, mostly tribal, from 244 villages and the Dharampuri town in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat who are  yet to be rehabilitated , face the grave risk of submergence of their farms and households.

The main demand is that the dam gates should not be closed without completing rehabilitation of all the people on legally authorized land and rehabilitation settlements with all requisite facilities and alternative means of employment.

The demand is also that the findings of the Jha committee, which reveals large scale scam of corruption of 1000-1500 crores INR that took place in the M.P. rehabilitation process should be made public.

On the eve of the Satyagraha, Water and Dam Specialist Major General Sudhir Vombadkere, from Mysore said, “I have observed that the long struggling People’s Movement has been deprived of legislative, governmental, and bureaucratic support. I have written to PM Modi, but have received no response. All governments have been equally responsible, and all have exploitative developmental policies.”

The NBA has charged that the Government of Gujarat has already taken a decision to de-command 4 lakh hectares of land from the total command area, mostly in favor of industrial areas and investment regions; as part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).

These planned projects including those of Adani and Ambani groups, being adjacent to the Canal Network, are obviously also going to be the first beneficiaries of the water supply from the Dam, the NBA has said.

The Government of Gujarat has entered into an agreement to supply 30 lakh litres of water per day to Coca Cola and 60 lakh litres to Car industries at Anand, clearly indicating the parties who are the actual beneficiaries of the Sardar Sarovar dam.

RTI Activist Bharat Sinh Jhala from Gujarat said “It was told that all the Gujarat villages will get irrigation. We haven't seen it being provided to villages, Water is available only to industries.”

In addition to submerging the natural wealth of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and displacing lakhs of people, they are denied even one drop of the dam’s water. The state with only get 56% of the power generated.

Medha Patkar of NBA also addressed the gathering before the commencement of rally for valley, highlighting the callous stand of the union and state governments on the issue.

Over 300 supporters from 15 States of India, including Karnataka, Kerala, UP, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkand, Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Haryana, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and  Delhi reached Indore today to demonstrate their support for the rally.

 

Quick Facts

·         244 villages and 1 township affected at full height of Sardar Sarovar Dam,with 192 of the villages in worst hit Madhya Pradesh

·         50,000 families in Madhya Pradesh affected and 20,822 ha land submerged

·         45000 familes are yet to be rehabilitated.

·         30,000 families continue to live in the submergence affected villages of MP without full rehabilitation as of today

·         Madhya Pradesh will have no right to water from the Sardar Sarovar reservoir and would only get 56% of the total power generated

·         Original outlay of the dam be increased from 4200 crores to 90,000 crores INR, an increase of cost by about 21 times