NEW DELHI: "This entire village has been rehabilitated (in government records) and the people you see here are ghosts," was displayed on a banner at the `expose the lies' (pol-khol) rally in Chotta Barda village on the banks of Narmada in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh. This is one of the villages affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project.

"These were people living in anger and frustration against a callous government that has declared in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that rehabilitation has been completed even in the areas affected by the increase in height of the Narmada dam," said a team of people here on Saturday who took out the pol khol rally through Dhar, Khargone, Badwani and Jhabua districts in Madhya Pradesh and Nandurbar in Maharashtra.

The team demanded that the Prime Minister take action against the "false claims of rehabilitation" made by the states. They also wanted Madhya Pradesh officials to stop threatening families facing submergence with " if they do not accept cash compensation they would get nothing."

"As if the Prime Minister had no faith in his Group of Ministers who visited Madhya Pradesh, he has now formed another panel of retired officials to look into rehabilitation in the State, in violation of Supreme Court orders.

He should take action on stopping the construction of the dam on the basis of the GoM report," said Swami Agnivesh.

Kavita Krishnan of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union said they found that the state government's agenda seemed to be to decrease people's entitlement rights as much as possible. "There were several instances of adult sons and widows not being considered for entitlements. In Dharampuri there was a hotel considered under submergence area but not the house adjoining it. Non-agriculturists, boatmen, small growers, labourers, fishermen who are being dispossessed have no recourse to alternate livelihoods. People with no land titles or self-owned homes have been completely left out. There are hundreds of such inadequacies."

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said nothing could be further from the truth than the irrigation and drinking water claims made by the Gujarat government at the raised height of the dam.

"Even at 110.62 metres, the Gujarat government has not been able to impound the waters because the canals and distribution network are not ready due to their inefficiency. It is a falsehood to say that if the construction of the dam is suspended people will not get water."

Awdesh of the JNU said instead of concentrating on rehabilitation and resettlement, the Madhya Pradesh government had unleashed a false propaganda against the Narmada Bachao Andolan and its leader Medha Patkar. They are using some "sarkari NGOs" to say that rehabilitation and resettlement was not working because of the NBA. "It is nothing but propaganda to hide their inadequacies in rehabilitation."

Film-maker Sagari Chabra rued that some of the heritage in this area would be submerged with the rise in the height of the dam. "Mahatma Gandhi's ashes at Rajghat in Nimar would also go under water. How can you replace that?"

Quoting from the State Comptroller and Auditor-General's Report, Upadhaya said the Gujarat government had submerged several small irrigation and drinking water projects based on local sources in Kutch and Saurashtra because the budget and the people's emotions, is directed towards the Sardar Sarovar Project.

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