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Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

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National

Supreme Court order raises hopes of villagers facing submergence

By Meena Menon

PICHHODI (MADHYA PRADESH), MARCH 29. Under a moonlit sky the people of Pichhodi are celebrating. Packed into a large quadrangle in the village for a late-night meeting, they are jubilant that the recent Supreme Court order which says submergence under the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) cannot take place till the affected people are given cultivable land.

This is something they have never heard before as the Madhya Pradesh Government has been offering cash instead of land.

Sanjay Parikh and S. Murlidhar, Supreme Court lawyers who fought the cases on behalf of the people from the two affected villages of Jalsindhi and Pichhodi, were given a heroes' reception when they visited the villages last week.

According to Mr. Murlidhar, ``the whole rehabilitation process is not transparent or consultative. We have put the authorities on the back foot and they have to implement this order for all the affected persons. They cannot raise the height of the dam to 121 metres, as proposed. We found land unfit for cultivation being allotted to people.''

The March 15 order of the Supreme Court which can create an impact in Maharashtra and Gujarat too, also reiterated that major sons of landholders would be entitled to grant of a separate holding. This can completely change the calculations of the number of affected persons in Madhya Pradesh.

``Our fight for 20 years has paid off,'' says Jaganbhai. The Government claims it has resettled Pichhodi in Badwani district, which is faced with submergence at a height of 95 to 100 metres, by providing a site with 62 plots for 800 families. The Sardar Sarovar dam is already at a height of 110 metres. There were 23 applicants from this village staking claim for proper rehabilitation.

Estimates keep changing

According to Ashish Mandloi of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), the petitioners in the Supreme Court case, ``the Madhya Pradesh Government has played a game of numbers and they reduced the number of those who have to be rehabilitated, to increase the height of the dam. The Court order has also clarified that there is no difference between those who are temporarily and permanently affected by the project.''

Estimates of affected persons in Madhya Pradesh keep changing. In 1993, the number was 33,104 families in 193 villages, but in a statement made on February 9 in the State Legislative Assembly, the figure was 40,000 families. Of the 8,000 or more families who have been rehabilitated, about 2,500 are in Gujarat, where they have been given land.

People like Hasaram Nahariya still await resettlement. His hut is perched on a hillock close to the river at Morakta village. ``I hope that I am resettled soon as mine is the first house that will submerge. The Government says I will drown but it will not shift me,'' he said. In Pipri village, in Badwani district, landowners like Ranchod Yadav who owns 85 acres, are not keen on moving out. ``The Government is not saying clearly if our land will submerge or not,'' he said.

At Utavad village, Bhagya Punya, who is landless, has received Rs. 60,000 so far from the Government for his house. His three sons are yet to receive any money. Most residents work as daily wage labourers and only half have been compensated.

The situation of the resettled people is no less grim. Motesingh Dhir from Jangarwa village who has moved to Gujarat, said: ``There were no arrangements for us at the site in Sonipur in Panchmahals district. Some of us came nine years ago. Fifty two families were resettled in Sonipur but nine families are back permanently.'' Rajubhai who was resettled in Umerva in Narmada district said, ``We were promised land in the command area but since six years there is no water available.''

In a 30 km radius from Badwani, there are several new rehabilitation sites set up by the State Government. There are house plots and four buildings in each site — a panchayat bhavan, a health centre, a school and a seed godown or an anganwadi. But there are no people anywhere.

Wait continues

Meanwhile those affected, like Luhariya Sankariya of Jalsindhi, continue to wait. Sankariya, who lives on the banks of the Narmada in Alirajpur district, is one of the 14 persons who filed an application in the Supreme Court. Although his house and his 7.5 acres of land were affected at a dam height of 95 metres, he has still to be rehabilitated. ``After the court order, I first felt something would change. But sometimes I have doubts about the Madhya Pradesh Government, I don't trust them and I think we have to continue the fight,'' he said.

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