Author: Lakshmi Iyer
Publication: Mumbai Mirror
Date: July 20, 2006
Introduction: Damned if you do: Union water
resources secretary J Harinarayan loses his job for allowing Narmada dam height
to rise. He refused to follow Soz's bleeding heart
Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz
may have received a resounding slap in the face from the VK Shunglu Committee--the
special panel appointed by the Prime Minister to examine the status of rehabilitation
of projected affected people (PAP) of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Madhya Pradesh.
In a stark contradiction to his own Group
of Ministers' report in April which he had called for one year moratorium
in the increase height of dam till such time rehab issues of PAP is amicably
settled, the three-member expert panel that took help of NSSO gave a clean
chit to the state government in Bhopal.
Nonetheless, Soz got a shot in the arm this
month as he has managed to get "rid" of his very independent minded
Union Water Resources Secretary, J Harinarayan.
Harinarayan is returning to his home state
Andhra as chief secretary next month. Soz was campaigning for his ouster as
he held him responsible for the recent bout of Narmada crisis. For as head
of the Narmada Control Authority, which he had occupied as Union water resources
secretary, it was Harinarayan who allowed the height of the Sardar Sarovar
Dam to be raised from 110.64 metres to 121.92 metres at the March 8 meeting
of the NCA.
When Soz asked him why he did not take his
permission, Harinarayan told him that under the 1979 Narmada Tribunal Award
he was not bound to take his consent," a Congress leader from Kashmir
said.
The tension between the minister and the secretary
came into the open when Soz wrote out the Group of Ministers report based
on the visit to rehabilitation sites in Madhya Pradesh, keeping Harinarayan
out of the process. "It was kept as a secret from his own secretary till
it was submitted to the PM," said a ministry official.
Harinarayan denied that he was moving back
to Andhra because of any problems with his minister Soz or the Narmada Dam
controversy. He said Andhra chief minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy had written
to Government of India way back in February requisitioning for him as the
incumbent chief secretary was to retire in April.
"I am the third senior most officer in
my batch and I was collector in chief minister Reddy's home district of Cuddapah.
So I was the natural choice. But then Delhi did not want to relieve me as
I was in midst of negotiations on the Indo-Pak Baglihar dam. Delhi wanted
to keep me here till July when all hearing on the matter was expected to be
over. But now the World Bank appointed neutral expert says he would have two
more hearings in November," said Harinarayan. Delhi wants Narayan to
continue handling the issue even after he moves to Hyderabad as he has handled
it for over an year.
In reply to a question on whether he had defied
Soz on the Narmada issue, Narayan denied he made any attempt to overrule him.
