Author: Arabinda Ghose
Publication: The Observer
of Business and Politics
Date: November 9, 2000
October 31, 2000 was
the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. However, it will
always be celebrated by the people of not only Gujarat but also of Western
Madhya Pradesh and the region around Dhule district of Maharashtra as a
virtual red letter day.
Gujarat did burst out
in celebration after the Supreme Court cleared the construction of the
Sardar Sarovar dam up to the height of a little over 138 metres (455 feet)
on October 16, albeit with certain conditionalities. But once the
people, living in the Narmada Valley in Western Madhya Pradesh, to become
alive to the game being played by the misguided people, they too will join
in the celebrations.
Indeed, probably the
longest lasting misguided agitation in India launched by certain people
who consider even Supreme Court judges as ignorant, biased and worse, has
done both their people and the country at large, immense harm. No
law exists which can compel these people to compensate the country for
inflicting such a huge loss.
Perhaps the World Bank,
which was influenced by the Bradford Morse Commission to express hesitation
for extending loans to the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL), upon
which Government of India (Gol) and the Government of Gujarat (GoG) themselves
decided not to accept any more assistance, should come forward now to compensate
SSNNL and India for their stand then.
It is not well known
that it was not the World Bank which had stopped the assistance (loan)
of the remaining tranche of $475 million for the project. It was
India which had said that if the World Bank had reservations, they might
as well withdraw from the project. At that point of time, one might
recall, the World Bank was actually processing another $475 million assistance
to SSNNL and the Bank's representative in India then, Vergin had actually
indicated that at a press conference.
First a novelist claims
that there are 3500 or more 'large' dams in India, the building of which
has resulted in the displacement of something like five crore people.
One of course is not aware if the Bookers Prize in literature can be won
through exaggerations. If it can be, then the figure should be doubled
to 10 crores - but here it would be more enlightening to know what is meant
by the term 'large dams'. According to the International Commission
on Large Dams (ICOLD), any dam the height of which, from the foundation
of the crest, is 15 metres (49,20 feet) is a 'large dam'. There are,
no doubt 3500 or so such dams in India, but thousands of them might have
displaced only a few families each, and some may not have displaced even
one family because such dams are often built in uninhabited areas, submerged
under the reservoirs, behind the dams, are not large enough to displace
any sizable number of people.
Actually India has only
seven mega dams (150 metres or higher) which might have caused large displacements.
The Bhakra Project actually submerged an entire town named Bilaspur in
Himachal Pradesh, but a new Bilaspur town has come up. The mighty
Nagarjunsagar Dam across the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh had affected
only 57 villages, and all affected people have been resettled long ago.
It is true, however,
that the project affected people (PAP) relating to the Pong dam across
the Beas river have yet to be properly rehabilitated. So is the case
with a number of PAPs in Orissa, affected by the Hirakund Dam across the
Mahanadi.
It is also true that
there are still certain issues to be settled regarding PAPs of the Bargi
(Avantibai) Dam across the Narmada, 72 kilometres south of Jabalpur in
Madhya Pradesh.
Obviously, we do require
a rehabilitation policy regarding all river valley and other projects which
displace people. Such a national policy is actually on the anvil.
However, going through
the rehabilitation package offered by SSNNL, one will find it among the
best in the world. And that is the problem with our misguided activists.
If the PAP's are properly settled according to this package, the 'leaders'
will lose their followers. This is the main issue before them.
The Supreme Court clearance up to 138 meters is, one must remember, subject
to the parri pasu rehabilitation of PAPs based on every 5 metre elevation
of the dam height above the present height of 85 metres. So, the
Supreme Court has not given a carte blanche to SSNNL to complete the dam.
On the day of the Supreme
Court verdict, the Deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Jamuna Devi,
in an interview to the All India Radio, had fully welcomed the clearance
given for taking the dam height to 455 feet. Why her boss, chief
minister Digvijay Singh, should sing a somewhat different tune is easily
explained. (Jamuna Devi is from a tribal community herself).
Fact is that Madhya Pradesh government is either unwilling or unable to
complete the Narmada Sagar (renamed lndira Sagar) dam at Punasa in Khargone
district 139 km upstream of the Sardar Sarovar dam.
The Narmada Water Disputes
Tribunal (NWDT) in its award in 1979 had stated that both these dams should
be completed simultaneously for proper functioning of the irrigation and
hydel systems. During his chief ministership of Madhya Pradesh, Sunderlal
Patwa had taken steps to complete this dam and had, in November-December
1992, requested the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to lay the foundation
stone for this dam. After the dismissal of the Patwa government after
the Ayodhya incident of December 6, 1992, there has been slowing down of
construction.
Digvijay Singh has often
been demanding that the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam should be restricted
to 435 feet, if not 415 feet, so that submersion in his state can be reduced.
A perfectly valid argument, except for the fact that in that case, people
of north Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch and Barmer and Jalore districts of
Rajasthan will be deprived of the benefits of Narmada water reaching the
parched lands.
