A N A L Y S I S

Dams be damned: A Case in Point
Jyotika J. Thukral

FOR people in key positions, the most important thing is to do the balancing act. Prime minister has to do it all the time, finance minister does it when it comes to budget, and nuclear scientists do it when they have to choose between power generation and nuclear weapons. Teachers, journalists and bureaucrats do it all the time day in and day out. Even housewives do some balancing act to manage the power equations back home.

As a social scientist or probably the term social activist suits the best in the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar. She has been fighting for a noble cause for the past over a decade by taking up the battle for the living rights of 35,000 tribal families in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, a large part of who have seen their lives sink in the dammed waters of the controversial Sardar Sarovar project on the Narmada river.

“Mammoth projects like the Sardar Sarovar dam cannot be built on the broken lives of thousands, who will be displaced when the Armada dam’s height is raised to 122 meters,” she firmly believes and advocates. It is her creed and she makes every sacrifice for that. No wonder the NBA has grown into a movement that demonstrates how in a democracy, civil society must become an active participant, not a passive recipient of the state policy.

And, no one can cast a doubt on her concerns and the latest fast-unto-death is a clear case in point. Medha seems to be sacrificing all for the cause of dam-displaced people even after losing the battle against the height of the dam t in the apex Supreme Court. The Court did concede that without settling the ousted families, the height should not be raised. But the governments in the states hoodwinked and made a mockery of the judgement, forcing NBA activists and Medha, Jamsinh Nargave, and Bhagwatibai Patidar to go on indefinite hunger strike, the Gandhian way to force the authorities to do justice.

Facts about the situation.

The NBA wants work on increasing the dam’s height to 122 m from the current 113 m stopped till the affected people are rehabilitated. Criticizing the “callous” attitude of the UPA Government to pleas of the NBA to stop construction work on the Sardar Sarovar Dam, Medha said the time had come to launch a ‘decisive struggle to achieve our objectives’. The NBA claims that relief and rehabilitation of some thousands of families displaced when the dam was raised to 110 meters has still not been done. Despite that, the Narmada Control Authority had decided on March 8, 2006 that another 10 meters could raise the height of the dam. The NBA claims this will displace an additional 35,000 families. The Supreme Court has clearly said all affected people must be rehabilitated six months prior to raising the dam's height.

[On April 16, 2006 three members central team of senior ministers that visited Madhya Pradesh has supported this contention and now the BJP ruled states are opposing any move to stop the construction as per the court orders and threatened to launch counter agitation. This has put Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who has been shying away from action in great a dilemma]

Expressing her shock over the government’s silence over the pleas of the NBA activists, who have been on an indefinite dharna in New Delhi since March 17 to protest a decision by the Armada Control Authority to raise the height of the dam, Ms Patkar, addressing reporters here, said, “despite our repeated pleas to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to stop construction on the Sardar Sarovar Dam and ensure proper rehabilitation of the oustees, the government has been maintaining a queer silence in the matter.” the idea that these large-scale projects are always beneficial to ordinary people is a farce. Patkar argues that while such projects generate large profits for a small number of people, they also bring social and environmental devastation to those who are in the way of "progress."

The existing development process, she says is skewed. “As in the name of development it leaves a large majority of our population out of the real benefits of this growth model. The process has to be decentralized and democratic, which is more than simply allowing people to participate in some consultations -- it's allowing people to have the first right to their resources and to say yes or no to a plan proposed by some outside agency,” she had said in an earlier interview.

Though the NBA has been unable to halt construction, it has time and again challenged the Indian government's claims that such projects will provide water and hydropower to people most in need and that people displaced by the project are being properly relocated and rehabilitated. The NBA continues to challenge the dams and the ongoing attempts to raise the height of them, while at the same time working to help the displaced people find justice.

“This is nothing but a mockery of the democracy. So the time has come to intensify our struggle for the fulfillment of our objectives,” she noted. After the lapse of the two-day ultimatum, Medha went on an indefinite hunger strike in favour of her NBA on March 29. But she had to be forcibly moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and doctors have been continually persuading her to give up her hunger strike for health reasons. She continues to be on strike from the hospital and her efforts have forced the Central Government to intervene by sending a high-level team to visit the Armada valley to assess the impact if not more.

The simple question she asks “Whose progress is this and at whose cost? It can’t be the progress of a few at the cost of many. If we ask people to vacate their ancestral lands in the name of “development”, surely they have a right to expect to be the first beneficiaries of that “development”? Instead we see again and again that the poor and the disempowered get further victimised because they are kept out of the decision-making process. How would the people of Malabar hill in Mumbai react if they were asked to leave their homes for the “greater common good?”

The latest Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report supports what Medha and her followers have been asserting that only 31 percent of Gujarat's villages and towns projected to benefit from the controversial Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) on the Narmada river have actually received its waters. The audit report for the Gujarat government covering the year ended March 31, 2005, makes damning reading The report reveals that the much-touted solution to the state's water shortage problem was not being implemented efficiently, contradicting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's statement last week that Patkar's fast was threatening to delay the state's "lifeline".

The project commenced in 1999-2000, should have been completed by 2002, but lagged behind.” Failure of GWSSB (Gujarat Water Supply and Sewage Board) as well as the consultant in monitoring the execution of works indicated ineffective internal control resulting in cost and time overrun and deprival of benefits to the targeted population," the report noted. "As a result of delay in execution of works, the gross average daily intake from the Khirai off-take point (canal head in Saurashtra) during May 2003 to June 2005 was 145.17 million liters a day (29 percent) against the capacity of 500 mld (million liters a day). Of the envisaged coverage of 1,342 villages/urban centers, benefits reached only to 415 villages/urban centers (31 percent)."

For the execution of a sub-project in the Saurashtra region, the Gujarat Water Infrastructure Company Ltd (GWIL), a state government body responsible for developing a branch canal to deliver waters, obtained a loan of Rs.750 million from Oriental Bank of Commerce, a state-owned commercial bank, at an interest rate of 11 percent in January 2002 though it could have obtained a loan from the state-run Housing and Urban Development Corp at 10.75 percent rate and with easier repayment options. The report stated that the deal resulted in an additional interest outgo of Rs.173.7 million. By not adopting standard bidding documents resulted in the termination of a contract with a cost overrun of Rs.1.25 billion and delay in execution of canal works in Jamnagar district of the Saurashtra region. An "irregular payment" of Rs.21 million was made to a contractor on excise duty and transportation of steel plates.

However BJP leader, Mr LK Advani begs to differ. Terming Ms Patkar’s opposition to an increase in height as “unfair”, he said that it was not fair to oppose the construction of the dam. “Construction of Sardar Sarovar project is a great wish of the people of Gujarat and it is not fair to oppose it,” he said and demanded that everyone accept the verdict of the Supreme Court on the increase of the height of the dam.

Although the government is non-committal on the NBA demand to suspend construction of the dam in Gujarat. Resettlement and rehabilitation of families in the three riparian states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat is lacking. Meanwhile the team of Central ministers who visited the valley to assess the status of resettlement of those displaced by the Armada dam, have urged the Prime Minister to act promptly so as to ensure that the Supreme Court decision for rehabilitation of displaced families is implemented six months prior to the submergence of the villages.

“However, there were nothing but complaints of being unheard, corruption and lack of rehabilitation. They gave proof of how rehabilitation was shown only on paper and how cash was being offered with a 20 per cent cut for officials,” the team of ministers, which went to the valley, said although the report is yet to be made public.

The debate can be endless when it comes to water. Pros says big dams are a must and antis say there are several other options like smaller irrigation projects which can bring prosperity to farmers without burning a hole into taxpayers pocket and displacing poor people. The issue certainly is debatable.

Several poets and writers have written on Water. Pani re Pani you fill my life with joy, happiness and prosperity. In this case it is millions versus the 35,000 tribal families who suffer from acute shortage of water across the span of Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat.

But in Kutch, world’s largest saltpans can only produce salt, laced water. It’s a situation where there is water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. Dry water in these Kutch coastal areas and it will leave behind a thick layer of salt. Tell them sweet water of Narmada will come to your homes – the answer is when and how… “Big people (protesters) will never let that happen.”

It is not the story of Narmada project area only elsewhere too it is happening. On January 2, 2006, police opened fire on tribals who were preventing the takeover of their land for setting up industries in Kalinganagar in Orissa. 12 tribals were killed. They were demanding promised rehabilitation. 12 industries were proposed for Kalinganagar, of which four had been set up. Each displaced family was promised a job in the industries: a promise not even partially fulfilled. The Indian Express and other Orissa newspapers reported, 87 families had been evicted to set up the MESCO steel plant; five persons had been given jobs. A total of 634 families had been displaced from the site of the Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., 53 people were given work. Some 430 families were displaced for Visa steel, 42 were given employment. The State Government had bought the land from the tribals at Rs.35, 000 an acre, and sold it to industry at Rs.3.35 lakh an acre. This irked as it does everywhere where farmers are ousted.

But that certainly is an emotional outbreak. One cannot ruin homes and dislodge thousands to help the other lot even if there are millions who stand to benefit from it. One needs to think of a better option.

The ball is in the court of the Indian establishment, insensitive and paranoid as it is. But there are some ready to sacrifice their lives to see reason and prove their humane approach.

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