Narmadan patoa ei toistaiseksi koroteta

The Maharashtra government has assured Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar that it will complete the process of resettlement and rehabilitation of villagers within four months. Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) ended her six-day fast on January 28 after being assured that the Maharashtra government would not give its consent to raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river to 110.64 metres until everyone affected by the move in Maharashtra had been resettled.

In a letter handed over to Patkar by state home minister R R Patil, the government confirmed that it would not submit its Action Taken Report (ATR) on rehabilitation at a crucial meeting of the review committee of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) in New Delhi on January 29.

Patkar and three others from the NBA undertook a dharna on January 21, and thereafter a fast demanding a written assurance from the state government that families that would lose their land if the height of the dam were increased, would first be resettled. Despite chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s verbal assurance at the World Social Forum, that the government was committed to resettling the affected in Maharashtra before further construction on the dam was agreed to, no such assurance was ever given in writing to the NBA.

The state government has stated that it will complete the process of scrutinising all claims by project-affected families by March 30, 2004. Within four months, the resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected villagers is expected to be complete.

According to Patkar, however, the deadline is unrealistic given the complexity of the problem. She urged the state government to make a more realistic assessment of how much it would benefit from the electricity generated once the height of the dam was raised.

The NCA, chaired by Union water resources secretary V K Duggal, deferred a decision after the Maharashtra government sought three months for the rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced and dispossessed families in the state. A Maharashtra representative said that surveys were still on and that about 450 families needed to be rehabilitated.

The chief ministers of the Narmada valley states -- Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan -- who are members of the review committee will review the progress made on the Narmada dam and on the rehabilitation and resettlement of oustees.

A meeting of the sub-group, chaired by the secretary of the ministry of social welfare and empowerment, was held prior to the NCA meeting, on January 28, where the states expressed their difficulties in resettling displaced populations.

The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal has said that dispossessed families should be rehabilitated and resettled a year before submergence. However, the height of the dam is expected to have a direct impact on submergence.

Source: www.thehindu.com, January 29, 2004