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[right-to-water] India: Narmada update

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viv...@gmx.de

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Aug 12, 2004, 3:48:10 PM8/12/04

Right to Water <right-t...@iatp.org> -- posted by viv...@gmx.de
============================================================

for more information about the NBA and the planned mega dams along
the river Narmada visit http:www.narmada.org

NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN (Save the Narmada Movement) B-13, Shivam
Flats, Ellora Park, Baroda-390007 * 58, Gandhi Marg, Badwani, M.P.

(Ph. 07290-222464 ; 0265-2282232. Email: bar...@narmada.org ;

bad...@narmada.org)

Press Note/ August 12, 2004

Prime Minister Should Not Oblige Narendra Modi by Coming to Kevadia
Colony: Medha

SARDAR SAROVAR WRECKS HAVOC IN TRIBAL VILLAGES :

MAH. GOVT DOES VERY LITTLE: M.P.GOVT. DOESN'T MOVE

"The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is reported to be coming
to Sardar Sarovar dam site for launching the so-called hydro-power
component of the dam. The Sardar Sarovar dam carries the tears and
blood of the thousands of tribals and farmers displaced and made
destitute by this project. Instead he and other ministers must first
care about the people and their rights and come to the Narmada
valley and assess the situation independently", appealed the people
in the Narmada valley in a meeting held in Badwani on August 11 (
Wednesday), as the floodwaters rose upto 114 meters on the Sardar
Sarovar dam, destroying hundreds of houses and farms in the tribal
villages in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

" The fateful submergence in the Narmada valley has destroyed the
lives and resources of thousands of tribal and farmers families.
The Prime Minister, who is committed to the human face of development,
must not legitimize such a project based on large scale repression
and outright violation of human rights and thereby legitimize the
misdeeds of the infamous governments of Narendra Modi government
of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh government headed by Uma Bharati.
Besides the so called hydro-power units are so insignificant that
they could hardly produce the electricity upto 30 megawatts, "
contended Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan, as the organization
was preparing for next action after the large scale submergence,
which submerged all villages in Maharashtra and parts of tribal
villages in Madhya Pradesh .

Thousands of tribals are destitute and are facing submergence. The
swirling waters of the Narmada has reached upto 113 meters on the
Sardar Sarovar dam site by the morning of August 5, submerging and
devastating almost all the tribal villages in Gujarat and Maharashtra
along with several villages in Madhya Pradesh. Villages including
Manibeli, Dhankhedi, Chimalkhedi, Bharad, Domkhedi, Nimgavhan,
Bilgaon and Bhadal alongwith the Madhya Pradesh villages like
Jalsindhi, Anjanwara were fully or partially submrged and water
entered in Bilgaon, Kakrana and other villages of Sodul stretch in
M.P.by August 9. The four Jeevan Shalas (schools) Manibeli, Bharad,
Bhadal and Danel also were submerged.

The Maharashtra government failed to provide resettlement nor had
shifted the affected people before the submergence. All that the
Maharashtra police did was to arrest the people in some villages
and cramped them in dingy and wet sheds with water running ankle
deep.

Their condition is still miserable, as there are no medical services
as people are facing outbreak of diseases, nor they have any food
and housing. The Nandurbar district administration has started
moving as late as on August 10. As the rising dam waters assumed
proportion of a tornado, and all one could see unending sea-like
water, there was no trace of any government assistance or even
empathy. While the Bharad people had to fend for themselves in the
presence of the police who stood as rather enjoying the plight of
the people, in Nimgavhan they were relishing a game of cricket.

Otherwise the police was busy in arresting the people in deliberately
in fours and sixes, to dissipate the unified effect and avoid any
responsibility. It is not providing any food-help for the distressed
people. Whatever food-grains were distributed was through Andolan's
own efforts.

The government is also not providing the barge- the large boats as
only means to enter into the sea-like waters of Narmada for an
access into the Maharashtra villages.

Obviously, the Maharashtra government has been indulging in outright
falsehood by claiming that all people have been shifted to safer
places. Nandurbar district administration has very slowly started
any process of 'declaring' the oustees as 'affected persons' and
purchasing the cultivable land for their resettlement after the
five-day dharna at Shahada (August 1-5). There are instances of
large scale corruption. The people who lost their crops and houses
in last year's submergence were not given any cash compensation
despite the assurances by the government.

Madhya Pradesh

And though Madhya Pradesh has largest number of the people those
will be hit by the submergence, the Uma Bharati government is not
taking any cognizance of the tragedy at all. Hundreds of oustees
from Anjanwara and several other villages in Alirajpur block in
M.P., made the Resettlement officer and other officials on August
10, at Kakrana, to check the lists and found out large-scale
discrepancies and fundamental flaws. Names of over 1000 people were
not included as oustees and there over 580 tribals were given
uncultivable land. was no preparation for land based rehabilitation.

They opposed the so called ex-parte allocation of lands. The District
Collector of Jhabua one Mr. A.K.Bhatt did not have the patience to
wait for the people. The submergence and lack of rehabilitation is
causing untold miseries to the people - as increase in diseases
like gastroenteritis and viral and water-borne diseases; the mobility
is hampered as the paths and roads were cut along with lack of food.
People demanded the mobile dispensaries, ration shops and river-barges
for transport, and of all the resettlement with cultivable land on
the war footing. Like their brethren in Maharashtra, the Madhya
Pradesh people are preparing for arduous struggle for their rights
and resources.

Chetan Salve

Kailash Awasiya

Ashish Mandloi

Deepti Bhatnagar

NBA Solidarity Call:

We request you to kindly write to the Prime Minister, and Chief
Minister of Mahrashtra, as well as the President of India and Sonia
Gandhi. (kindly see contact details at the bottom, or at,
<http://www.narmada.org/campaigns/govt.contacts.html>http://www.narmada.org/campaigns/govt.contacts.html

- Demand the Government of Maharashtra to provide all kind of
assistance ? medical, logistical and that of food ? to thepeople
facing the submergence, and Immediately undertake the resettlement
process of all the affected people as was decided in the meeting
with the rehabilitationinister of the state on June 14.

- Madhya Pradesh must undertake the land based resettlement of its
affected villages.

- Write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, not to be a party to the
grave violation of human rights and deception of people andlegitimize
yet another outrage by the infamous Narendra Modi government ofujarat.

- Based on all the experience regarding the so called benefits of
the dam, the economic and financial bankruptcy and social andnvironmental
disaster, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive reviewf all
a the aspects of the Narmada Project. The work on all the dams
?ardar Sarovar, Narmada Sagar and others should be halted immediately
anduch a time bound review with the participation of Narmada Bachao
Andolanust be undertaken immediately.

- Come to Narmada valley, to be with the people, help them organize
the resettlement process, documentation, confront theruthless state
and also re-create their life.

Contacts:

Mr. Man Mohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, 7, Race Course Road,
New Delhi-1 Tel: 011-23016857, 23019545 (PM Office), 23019334 (PM
residence) 23016996 (Joint Secretary of PM), 23018939 (Personal
Secretary of PM) Email:
<mailto:manm...@sansad.nic.in>manm...@sansad.nic.in Write to the
PM:

<http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm>http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm

Sushilkumar Shinde, Chief Minister, Mantralaya, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- 400 023 Phone +91-22-23634950; 23630408; (Residence) 22025151;
22025222; (Office) Fax: 022-23633272, 022-22029214

Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam, President of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New
Delhi-1 Fax: 011-23017290, 23014570, 23017290 Email:
<mailto:presiden...@rb.nic.in>presiden...@rb.nic.in

Smt. Sonia Gandhi,

President National Advisory Committee, 10, Jan Path, New Delhi-110011.

Tel: 011-23014481/23012656, Fax: 011-23018651 Email:
<mailto:10ja...@vsnl.net>10ja...@vsnl.net,
<mailto:sonia...@sansad.nic.in>sonia...@sansad.nic.in

Uma Barati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal,
Ph: 0755-2661503, Fax. 0755-2551781, 2540501).

Chairman R&R Sub-Group of NCA, Secreatary, Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-1 (Ph. 011-3385180)<!doctype
html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style
type="text/css"></style><title>India: Narmada
update</title></head><body> <div><br></div> <div>for more information
about the NBA and the planned mega dams along the river Narmada
visit http:www.narmada.org</div> <div><br></div> <blockquote
type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="+2"

color="#000000"><u><b>NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN (Save the Narmada
Movement)</b></u></font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite"
cite><font color="#000000">B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park,
Baroda-390007 * 58, Gandhi Marg, Badwani, M.P.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font color="#000000">(Ph. 07290-222464
;

0265-2282232. Email: bar...@narmada.org ;<font size="-1">
bad...@narmada.org)</font></font><br> </blockquote> <blockquote
type="cite" cite><br></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"

color="#000000">Press Note/ August 12, 2004</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite"
cite><font face="Times New Roman"

color="#000000"><b>Prime Minister Should Not Oblige Narendra Modi
by Coming to Kevadia Colony: Medha</b></font><br> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"

color="#000000"><b>SARDAR SAROVAR WRECKS HAVOC IN TRIBAL VILLAGES
:</b></font><br> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"

color="#000000"><b>MAH. GOVT DOES VERY LITTLE: M.P.GOVT. DOESN'T
MOVE</b></font><br> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite"
cite><br></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times
New Roman"

color="#000000">"The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is
reported to be coming to Sardar Sarovar dam site for launching the
so-called hydro-power component of the dam. The Sardar Sarovar dam
carries the tears and blood of the thousands of tribals and farmers
displaced and made destitute by this project. Instead he and other
ministers must first care about the people and their rights and
come to the Narmada valley and assess the situation independently",
appealed the people in the Narmada valley in a meeting held in
Badwani on August 11 ( Wednesday), as the floodwaters rose upto 114
meters on the Sardar Sarovar dam, destroying hundreds of houses and
farms in the tribal villages in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.</font><br>
</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"

color="#000000">" The fateful submergence in the Narmada valley
has destroyed the lives and resources of thousands of tribal and
farmers families. The Prime Minister, who is committed to the human
face of development, must not legitimize such a project based on
large scale repression and outright violation of human rights and
thereby legitimize the misdeeds of the infamous governments of
Narendra Modi government of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh government
headed by Uma Bharati. Besides the so called hydro-power units are
so insignificant that they could hardly produce the electricity
upto 30 megawatts, "

contended Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan, as the organization
was preparing for next action after the large scale submergence,
which submerged all villages in Maharashtra and parts of tribal
villages in Madhya Pradesh .</font></blockquote> <blockquote
type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman"