Summary
India has built
more than 3,000 dams in the past 50 years, enabling large
areas to get electricity and develop agriculture.
However, environmentalist groups claim that 25 million to
30 million people have been displaced in the process,
fishing areas have been ruined and thousands of acres of
rich forest land destroyed. Since 1987, the communities
of farmers and adivasis (indigenous peoples) living on
the banks of the Narmada River have been fighting against
the construction of a dam known as the Sardar Sarovar
Project (SSP). (Hotline issued three urgent appeals since
1988 - HL/CPP 881005(11) and 910128 (5), HL/ACPP 920727 (16)).
As a result of local and international pressure, in 1993,
the World Bank withdrew a loan for the project and in
1995, the Indian Supreme Court imposed a construction ban.
Nevertheless, the Indian Supreme Court lifted a four-year-old
ban on the construction of the dam in February this year
and has allowed further construction work, which will
raise the present height of the unfinished dam from 81 to
88 meters. This would result in a submergence of 50 to 60
villages in the three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra affecting an additional 2,500 tribal
families. The dam has already been constructed to a
height of 85 meters immediately threatening twelve
thousand people who are at risk of losing their homes and
their lands due to submergence during the current monsoon
season. When the 149-meter-tall (this is the planned
completed height) is finished, as many as 400,000 people
might have been displaced. Hundreds of farmers have
pledged to stay in their villages even when the waters
rise during the monsoon season. This is seen as a last
act of desperation by the farmers and indigenous people
to struggle for their basic rights to livelihood and
culture. International voices are urgently calling for
support to local voices against the further construction
of the dam.
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Background
The Narmada Valley
is a long hill range in the state of Madhya Pradesh and
forms downstream of the border between Gujarat and
Maharashtra states. The Narmada River flows westwards
through forests and agricultural lands until it reaches
the Arabian Sea. In April 1987, the government approved
two major dams of the Narmada Valley Project and the
states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat were given
permission to "develop" the Narmada River and
its valley. The aim of the project is to transform the
giant river into a series of large reservoirs. It is
expected that 30 major, 135 medium and about 3,000 minor
dams will be built (making it the largest single river
valley project in the country) and to provide irrigation
and hydro-electricity to the two states. Some figures
about the project include:
Height
- planned 149 meters, realized 85 meters
Costs
- estimated in 1988: 64 billion Rupees (2 billion US
dollars)
- estimated in 1994: 440 billion Rupees (14 billion US
dollars)
Irrigation potential
- 1.8 million hectares in Gujarat and 75,000 hectares in
Rajasthan
Electricity generation
- 1,450 MW
Area of submergence
- 37,000 hectares by the SSP-reservoir (plus over 80,000
hectares by the canal-system for irrigation)
Displaced people
- between 200,000 and 300,000, more than 250 villages (not
including the people affected by the canal-system)
The reasons for opposition to the project include the
submergence of extensive areas of irreplaceable forest,
killing wildlife on a large scale, permanently destroying
the river basin's ecology, water logging, salinity, water-borne
diseases and the growth of weeds. Another main issue for
critics and debate is the "Rehabilitation and
Resettlement"- (R&R) policy. According to the
Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT), every project-affected
family (PAF) should be given land one year prior to the
submergence of their land and be rehabilitated completely.
The latest official estimates from the three states add
up to 41,500 PAFs, or 207,500 people, around 80% of them
in Madhya Pradesh. Almost all the PAFs in Gujarat and
Maharashtra and perhaps half of those in Madhya Pradesh
are adivasis, or indigenous peoples. Large numbers of
poor and underprivileged communities are being
dispossessed of their livelihood to make way for dams
being built on the basis of dubious claims of common
benefit and "national interest". According to
groups opposed to the Dam, in India today, there is no
example of people resettled as a result of the
construction of a large dam being provided with just
compensation and rehabilitation.
Resistance against the dam started at the beginning of
the works in 1987. Throughout 1990-91, a series of
dharnas (sit-in's) and non-violent protests by the local
people and support groups highlighted the plight of the
"oustees" (the people threatened by
displacement) and the fundamentally flawed nature of the
project. Under intensive pressure, the World Bank (which
was funding the dam with US$450 million) was forced to
constitute an independent review committee (the Moorse
Commission). This report indicted the World Bank in many
counts (e.g. inadequate R&R, missing environmental
and health safeguards, wrong statistical figures, etc).
The resultant international pressure forced the World
Bank to withdraw from the project in 1993, but the
central and state governments continued with the project.
The people of Narmada Valley and human rights activists
organized hunger strikes on April 7 which ended after 11
days when the police brought them to the hospital to
force-feed them. Recently on August 11, the police also
beat and arrested 62 people including 12 women in
Jalsindhi while they were protesting against the dam.
Aware that there is a lack of rehabilitation schemes and
unwilling to surrender their way of life to the idea of
so called "development", the indigenous people
of the Narmada Valley have decided to resist the dam and
stay in their villages.
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