The moot question is, Will the Indian media leave this mammoth exercise un-monitored and un-reported?The numbers of Narmada dam oustee families has been manipulated downward from 31,180 to 18,346, and forcible eviction is on the cards, Indian President has been told by a prominent delegation on May 31.
Reports from activists on the ground, Rahul Yadav, Mukesh Bhagoriya, Himshi indicate that at least 40,000 policemen and women, and, if needed the army, (which is is on alert) will be pulled in and used for the forcible eviction of thousands of families whose names figure in a "List announced through the extraordinary gazette notification issued by the Government of M.P., dated 27.05.2017'. This List which is in the public domain, lists the names of 18,346 families who have been falsely listed as fit for evacuation, it is alleged.
These developments are happening even as a ‘Rally for the Valley’ has been organised from Indore to Vadodara from June 5 to 7.
Various government officials are continuously moving in the villages threatening and intimidating the villagers and asking them to leave at whatever cost, mentioning different deadlines. The resistance of the people continues to rise -on one hand against the violation of established rehabilitation policies as well as Court orders. On the other hand, all villagers, including Adivasis, are worried about being rnedered homeless and jobless on account of such forced eviction. There is no doubt that the government’s plan is to make every village a battle ground, say the activists.
The latest update from the valley is that the police and revenue officials with vehicles are plying into the village after village with drone cameras to photograph long distance visuals, obviously to plan the upcoming attack. The officials are facing questions and wrath of people who are not ready to move out without all rehabilitation and proper entitlement. However the Govt of Madhya Pradesh has already announced that they will evict 8200 families from district Badwani, and 6132 families from district Dhar, and dozens of families from Khargone.
All this without even full compliance with the latest order of Supreme Court that directs complete rehabilitation and vacating the lands only on receiving the cash packages by farmers. The landless have not been not granted any special relief. Both landholders and the landless from local communities, who are collective protectors of social and cultural sites and public services that are still functional have refused to move into “tin sheds” that are being forcibly imposed on them as 'rehabilitation' by the government.
Says a note from the Narmada Bachao Andolan, ‘Thirty-one years on and every prediction of ours has come true. The Dam has brought in devastation in the downstream; the communities with forest and farmland upstream have been destroyed and impoverished; the profits have been pocketed by the rich corporates and diverted for the benefits of the urban centers; neither the state of MP nor Maharashtra are getting a single drop of water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam who's water has been reserved for Coca-Cola, Adanis and the Ambanis. Gujarat’s own farmers are on the streets condemning the same. MP does not require any electricity with access produced and hence many power plants closed but even then they want to close the gates and drown everyone. This is illegal, Unjust and completely unconstitutional.’
“Rally for the Valley” to stand with the thousands of people of Narmada Valley who have been fighting for their rights; a fight against the hegemony, devastation in the name of development, corporate loot of natural resources and to protect their life that comes from Narmada.
Delegation Meets President, Urges Intervention
A Left parties-civil society organizations delegation led by CPI-M politbureau member Hannan Mollah, general secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha, has told President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee that there is a “brazen attempt” on the part of the Government of Madhya Pradesh to “forcibly evict” thousands of Narmada dam oustees from their villages under the pretext of the Supreme Court order dated February 8, 2017.
Pointing out that the oustees are sought to be evicted forcibly before July 31, the delegation said, the state government is “ignoring” the Supreme Court order of providing “compensation and complete rehabilitation of the dam-affected villages”. Others who were in the delegation were Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women and Vimal Bhai and Himshi Singh of the National Alliance of People’s Movements.
During the meeting, Himshi Singh gave crucial statistics, alleging, “the Madhya Pradesh government is manipulating its own statistics of the Action Taken Report- 2008 which gives a count of 31,180 families affected by the Narmada dam. It has now drastically reduced the number in the recently issued Gazette, 2017 by 18,346”.
A memorandum submitted by the delegation said, as per the orders of Supreme Court, the last date for giving compensation and ensuring complete rehabilitation was May 8, 2017, but till now, the state government has not done any survey which could list project affected families entitled to compensation and rehabilitation.
The memorandum wondered, how the state government could even think of evicting people without rehabilitation, insisting, this was a clear contempt of spirit of court orders and judgments along with the murder of constitutional rights of project-affected families.
Pointing out that the “forcible eviction” would prove to be a disaster, as families are without alternative land, livelihood and livable rehabilitation sites, Mollah told the President that he visited the Narmada Valley as a fact-finding team, and found that their life and culture was facing the threats of submergence.
“Our report brings out the dismal conditions of the project affected families, resettlement sites, and corruption in payment of compensations. As many as 192 villages, 1 town, 40,000 families and more than 2 lakh people will be affected”, Mollah contended, adding, “If the government does not take proper action in rehabilitating the affected families, the condition of the outsees in Madhya Pradesh would become as bad as the oustees of Gujarat or Maharashtra.”
Annie Raja claimed, “If the dam’s gates are closed down without proper rehabilitation, it will be remembered as a mass murder in human history. After the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Narmada Valley for Narmada Seva Yatra, the process of intimidation and eviction has suddenly been speeded.”
Vimal Bhai explained the environmental impact in the form of chlorofluorocarbon – an organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as volatile derivative of methane, ethane, and propane. Pointing out that this is happening “due to the submergence of lakhs of trees”, he also gave details of the condition of rehabilitation sites, which still lacked basic amenities, cracks on houses due to black soil and no drinking water availability.
The meeting, which took place ahead of the Rally for the Valley from June 5 to 7, 2017, reportedly saw President of India assure the delegation that he would “look into the matter and initiate necessary actions.”
In this Video Interview, Sanjay Parikh describes how the governments are clearly violating Court Orders on Rehabilitation.