The Hindu : National : Medha Patkar launches satyagraha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 13, 2004

National

National

Medha Patkar launches satyagraha

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JULY 12. The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar today announced an indefinite satyagraha near the State secretariat to highlight the Maharashtra Government's neglect in resettling the families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP).

A delegation of the NBA met the State Home Minister, R.R. Patil, who assured them that the issue of resettling hundreds of families would be completed in one-and-a-half months. However, Ms. Patkar and her supporters were not satisfied with this assurance.

She told reporters that 33 villages were affected by the SSP in Maharashtra and two-thirds of the affected families who were awaiting rehabilitation were not even declared as project-affected. Besides, the State Cabinet's decision in January not to allow work on the dam unless rehabilitation was completed was not adhered to, she said.

The Maharashtra Government is not even certain how many people would be displaced by the SSP and so where is the question of deciding how much land is required to rehabilitate them, she asked. Even though people had been notified as project affected, their adult sons and daughters were not entitled to compensation, she said.

So far in the State, 1500 families had been resettled, though about 400 families were yet to receive land, Ms. Patkar said. About 3000 families await rehabilitation and of this, only 568 families were recognised as project-affected. The State did not take a tough stand on the question of rehabilitation and about 1500-2000 families would face submergence this monsoon, while the Gujarat Government celebrated raising the project's height to 110 metres. Even though private land was available, the State did not buy it, she said.

Maharashtra had earlier opposed raising the height of the dam to 110.64 metres, according to the State relief and rehabilitation secretary, Krishna S. Vatsa. He told The Hindu that the SSP would displace 3400 families from 33 villages, according to initial estimates. So far, in Maharashtra, 2851 families had been resettled. Of this, 2075 families were resettled in Maharashtra and 776 families in Gujarat. "We expect that about 173 families who are declared as project-affected already, will be affected if the dam height goes up to 110.64 metres. However, a process of verification of claims is on and the figure of those affected at 110.64 metres could well go up to 600 families," he said.

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