The Hindu : National : "Violation of court orders"

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Saturday, Mar 25, 2006

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National

"Violation of court orders"

Gargi Parsai

It is criminal to raise the height of Narmada Dam, says Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy

NEW DELHI: CPI (Marxist) Rajya Sabha member Brinda Karat, writer Arundhati Roy and national secretary of the CPI, Amarjit Kaur, visited the families displaced by the Narmada dam. The displaced people are on dharna here since a week to protest the decision to raise the height of the dam in Gujarat from 110.64 metres to 121.92 metres.

At the end of the 48-hour ultimatum on Friday by the Narmada Bachao Andolan to the Government for action, seven of the villagers have gone on relay fast. Earlier, 70 of the displaced people who held a demonstration outside the Ministry of Social Justice and Employment were arrested, NBA leader Medha Patkar said. They were demanding a meeting with Minister Meira Kumar on how the resettlement and rehabilitation sub-group had recommended raising the height of the dam and why the cash-compensation package of the Madhya Pradesh Government was accepted in violation of the Narmada tribunal award.

On Thursday night, Ms. Roy, who had spearheaded the Rally for the Valley in 1999, joined the dharna while Ms. Karat spoke to the families.

Speaking to The Hindu Ms. Roy said it was "criminal" to raise the height of the dam. "It violates every policy and the Supreme Court judgments."

She said the Narmada Bachao Andolan was one of the most disciplined and non-violent resistant movements. "The time has come for the government and the movement itself to ask themselves what are the costs and benefits of non-violent resistance because the people who are sitting here have been sitting for 20 years and have been humiliated for 20 years."

The Supreme Court had jailed Ms. Roy for a day in 2002 for `contempt of court.' Recalling this, she alleged that bureaucrats and politicians were, however, getting away with "mass contempt of its orders."

She said she saw "a benign turning away by the courts. I don't see any of these bureaucrats and politicians being jailed like I was. Of course, now this kind of cruel displacement is happening across the board. Millions of people are being dispossessed while our government and media worries about whether [U.S. President] George Bush enjoys his dessert or not."

Ms. Karat told The Hindu that the decision to raise the height of the dam without prior resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected families was a clear violation not only of the Supreme Court judgment of March 2005 but also went back on the position of the Narmada Control Authority itself.

She said: "There is an utter breakdown of every norm including ethical and moral norms of the government as far as the resettlement and rehabilitation is concerned. Therefore, it is essential for the Water Resources Minister to call a Review Committee meeting and reverse the decision to raise the height without addressing the issue of rehabilitation as per the Narmada award and Supreme Court order."

Ms. Brinda said the Tribals Select Committee that met here on Thursday had petitioned the Prime Minister to intervene.

The NCA decision to permit the Gujarat government to raise the height of the dam affects thousands of families in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

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