The Hindu : National : India figures prominently in UNEP report

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Friday, Jun 11, 2004

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India figures prominently in UNEP report

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, JUNE 10. The Narmada Dam controversy and displacement due to cleaning of waterways in Tamil Nadu figure prominently in the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on ``Environmental Refugees.'' The report claims that over 25 million people are displaced due to natural disasters, development, resources abuse and environmental degradation.

India and China are the two most populous countries in the world that are also two of the biggest dam builders. ``Natural disasters have been taking place right from the beginning of the history, but what is recent is the potential for large movement of people resulting from a combination of resources depletion, the irreversible destruction of the environment and population growth among others,'' it says.

Suggesting that environmental refugees are emerging as a significant proportion of the world's displaced, the report says that 25 million people are uprooted due to environment causes, exceeding 22 million refugees of civil war and persecution.

On the Narmada Valley project, the report says that the chain of dams in Gujarat has dismayed many who say the move could devastate the river. Activists claim that the completed project would displace one million people. Many of the displaced were not consulted or properly compensated, and most of the refugees are indigenous and tribal groups. ``Most controversial has been the Narmada Valley, where the Government demarcated 30 dams, including two large ones dubbed as `mega-dams'. It has attracted the widest protests and is still steeped in a controversy.''

The report cites the examples of Karjan and Sukhi reservoirs in Gujarat that had displaced only tribals. In Orissa, tribals constituted 98 per cent of those displaced by the Balimela Hydro Project and 96 per cent of those displaced by the Upper Kolar Dam.

Also, due to the specifications necessary to construct dams, the displaced generally are hill or river inhabitants, but were moved to plains, deserts or mountains — even less desirable, less productive lands.

Referring to Tamil Nadu, the report says that the State Government took a loan from the World Bank to clean up and beautify the waterways.

It resulted in the displacement of the people living on the banks of rivers and canals for many years.

Nearly 29,400 families were living along the waterways in Chennai — the Buckingham Canal, the Cooum river, the Adyar river, the Otteri Nallah and Virugambakkam-Arumbakkam drain.

They were given eviction orders and offered lands at far away places where it was difficult to find employment. People in 33 settlements were affected, most of whom are rickshaw drivers, coolies, auto-rickshaw drivers and pavement vendors. The Public Works Department plans to settle them in dry lakes or tanks in and around Chennai, the report says.

Another estimate says that as many as 150 million people may be displaced by the impact of global warming and consequent sea-level rise in 2050.

That is equivalent to 1.5 per cent of that year's predicted global population of 10 billion.

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