A strong protest of the Narmada Bachao Andolan on behalf of 2,00,000 dam displaced evacuees of the Narmada valley will be held outside the Madhya Pradesh Bhavan, Delhi on April 28, 2016. Thirty years –three decades—since the people of the Narmada valley have been struggling against their unjust displacement due to the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, today the construction of the dam was restarted in June 2014 and now the dam height is nearing completion.
On April 28 , 12:00 pm, protesters will gather at the Madhya Pradesh Bhavan, New Delhi in solidarity with the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the lakhs of people affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project. This is happening at a time when a three day protest- chetavani upvas and satyagraha is taking place in Bhopal.
As the 2016 monsoon approaches, two hundred thousand people are faced with the threat of submergence. These families are still living in the submergence zone, they will lose their villages, schools, places of worship, houses, farms with prime agriculture, panchayats and a township partly submerged earlier will be further affected.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has challenged the government’s false affidavits on the question of complete R&R and exposed the massive corruption involved in the process. The NBA’s petition to the Madhya Pradesh High Court constituted a commission of Enquiry under Justice S S Jha (referred to as the Jha Commission). The Jha commission submitted its report after nearly seven years of detailed investigation into cases of corruption involving government employees and accepted the massive fraud which was to the tune of thousands of crores.But the State of Madhya Pradesh has refused to grant the people access to the report! Furthermore, even the MLA’s have not been given access to the report. All this has been done citing privilege of the State Assembly.
The Justice Jha Commission report has the details of all fake registries, the amount of money wasted, and all the agents and officials involved in the scam. There is an urgent need to uncover the corruption involved in terms of money, land and the rights in the distribution of house plots and construction of resettlement sites. In addition, the question of the quality of resettlement sites cannot be ignored. All culprits involved must be punished regardless of being an officer or an agent. The corruption in the Narmada Valley Development Authority (N.V.D.A) must be uncovered.
During decades of struggle the NBA has succeeded in getting 14,000 Adivasis, Dalit farmers and their families to receive land. ) especially in Gujarat and Maharashtra. But Madhya Pradesh is a different story, only 40 to 50 displaced families have been allotted land. Even today, 40,000 families live in the submergence zone.The Madhya Pradesh government has constantly fudged the number of oustees even changing the data relating to the Back Water Level, and thereby excluded many people from the submergence area and lists of Project Affected People thereby denying them their due R&R share – initially 4374 families and then another 15,900 families. Such action affecting about 20000 families is both unscientific and illegal.
These villages that lie in the submergence zone are full of life and activity, which cannot be submerged without proper resettlement violating the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal and Supreme court judgments of 1992, 2000 and 2005. Despite all this, the Centre along with the Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat governments, have continued the construction of dam, which is almost complete.
Major Demands:
1. Make public the Jha Commission Report on massive corruption in rehabilitation. Send the guilty to Jail. Now!
2. Complete Rehabilitation & Resettlement of thousands of farmers, labourers, fisher people, and artisans before the monsoons. Gates of the dam should not be closed till R&R is complete and all affected are resettled at new sites, in 3 states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat at the earliest with all entitlements as per law and SC judgments.
Hundreds to Fast for Justice to the Sardar Sarovar Project Affected
Hundreds of people from Narmada Valley have been observing fast April 27 to 29, 2016 in Bhopal demanding justice to families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project.
The 30-year old struggle by the Sardar Sarovar Project affected people of the Narmada Valley, continues even today against the government’s tardy rehabilitation process. Even today, after the Jha Commission Report, the families who haven’t been rehabilitated have not yet been granted justice or rights, neither have the culprits been punished.
Along with the fast in Bhopal, people from various tehsils in Maharashtra, MP, Gujarat and different parts of the country would also stage a dharna at their places in solidarity.
Through the Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharastra governments, the Modi Government has pulled strings to increase the height of the dam by 17 meters. “We will not let them complete the increase of the dams height through JalSamarpan will save the valley,” organizers of the program said adding, "Now, the time has come again that together we challenge the preparations made by those in power and involved in corruption, to drown thousands of families in years old civilization of the Narmada Valley". They point out, “The question of Narmada is linked to the various people’s movements of the country and vice-versa.”
Justice Jha Commission, which was formed on the directions of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2008, had submitted its report on corruption after 7 years. The irony is that a copy of the report is not even made available to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) who is a petitioner in this particular case. NBA was not allowed to open the report in the court neither the report was given to MLAs, but only tabled in the State Assembly, and therefore not available publicly.
The Supreme Court has sought ‘Action Taken Report’ regarding the report submitted by the Commission, in six weeks time from the state government.
“It has to be found out which officials are involved in corruption, apart from finding out about money and land. Those who are guilty needs to be identified and punished accordingly. Even before we went to the High Court, the displaced people were being sent to jail; which was stopped by the High Court; the future action also have to be planned accordingly," organizers said.
In 30 years, 14,000 Adivasi and Dalit farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra were rehabilitated with land. But in Madhya Pradesh only 40 to 50 farmers were given land as a part of rehabilitation with more than 50,000 displaced families still residing in submergence area. The action of Madhya Pradesh government to rehabilitate 4374 families earlier and 15,900 families now to the submergence area is unscientific and illegal. According to the organizers of the protests, dharamshalas, panchayats, temples, mosques, shops, markets and livelihood of lakhs of people cannot be drowned without rehabilitation as per Supreme Court orders of 1992, 2000 and 2005.