Drowning out rhetoric in Madhya Pradesh

Thousands of people in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are protesting the building of five large dams on the Narmada river. The dams have displaced local residents and farmers, who feel that they have not been fairly compensated.

It has been a long battle for more than 400,000 people affected by five dams: Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, Maan and Upper Beda. The dams, which are in different stages of construction, are part of a hydroelectricity project that officials say will light up 500,000 homes and irrigate 20,000 hectares of land. Narmada is the country’s fifth largest river and a vital agricultural and economic resource for the region.

But the protesters alleged that the government has failed to provide residents and landowners with adequate funds for rehabilitation and resettlement.

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is an organisation fighting for the rights of dam-affected people. “The government has violated the supreme court orders,” a senior NBA activist, Alok Agrawal, said. “Evictees should be given land for land and they should also be given other facilities to be rehabilitated. More than 90 per cent people have been denied proper compensation and rehabilitation by the state government.”

Agrawal also pointed to a ruling of the Supreme Court in 2011 that the state government had a constitutional obligation to fully compensate people displaced from their homes.

Those being evicted by the dams staged a five-day protest recently in the state capital Bhopal against the building of the dams. Braving the rain and singing songs in the local dialect, including one about winning the battle, thousands of protesters joined a sit-in as part of the five-day protest. They had covered more than 160 kilometres to reach the city. Many said they would keep up this fight until their demands were met.

“Our demands are very clear: we should be given land for land and everyone should be given a minimum of 5 acres [2 hectares],” Sakku Bai, a resident of Omkareshwar, said. “Otherwise we are not ready to move from our place and will not demolish our houses. If the government decides to go ahead with their work then we will drown ourselves. We want the government to give us at least $10,500 per acre [Dh95,222 per hectare] as compensation. How can we survive without this?”

The state government’s policy is that the landless families should be given $4,500 and they must demolish their own homes at the earliest. Farmers with land will be given $3,600 per acre. Protesters, including Savitri Bai, said they would not accept inadequate compensation from the government.

Savitri Bai owns more than 5 acres of land at the dam site. “The government has made empty promises with us,” she said. “The government wants us to accept $3,600 per acre, which is much below the existing market rate. If the government is not ready to accept our demands then they should empty the dams and hand the land back to us.”

The protesters alleged that thousands of families had been excluded from lists of the displaced and many had not been given compensation, even though large areas of land were already under water; those who had received compensation were asked to sign an agreement preventing them from seeking further compensation.

Jagdish Singh is from Bhavarlee village, which has already been submerged. “You could imagine the way we were exploited,” he said. “They were not ready to pay compensation for those lands which have been submerged. They only gave us $1,800 per acre and asked us to fill out a form so that we cannot claim more compensation from them in court. There are many people who have not got compensation even though their lands and houses have been submerged.”

Many of those who have been resettled, miles away from their original homes, complain that they don’t have access to basic health care and education.

Local leader Subhash Patel is more concerned about the young people in this newly established community. “I don’t know how our children will get an education,” he said. “They have constructed buildings, but classes aren’t being held. Education is available to children but at faraway places. To send our children to cities for education is not at all an easy task, and we are left with no money.”

Those being evicted demand that if the government is unable to comply with the rehabilitation policy, the dams should be emptied and the lands returned to them. From 2000 onwards, while the governments have constructed the Maan, Veda, Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar and Maheshwar dams at a fast pace, the victims have been systematically denied their entitlements under the rehabilitation and resettlement policy.

The affected people are now pressuring the local administration and the state government to accept their demands just before the assembly elections scheduled for November in Madhya Pradesh.

Alok Agrawal warned that the victims were ready to teach the state government a lesson. “We are ready to fight until the very end,” he said. “The government should accept the demand or be ready to lose the elections. Thousands of victims will vote against the government.”

Last year, 51 people stayed put in the rising waters of the Omkareshwar dam for 17 days against the state government’s decision to raise the water level in the dam from 189 metres to 193 metres. The 520-megawatt Omkareshwar project is one of the several big dams on the Narmada River, built by Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation, a joint venture between the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The protest had ended after the chief minister assured them that the height of the dam would not be increased and that he would also consider their demands for rehabilitation and adequate compensation. Many of the affected people now say they been deceived by the state government and that they will keep fighting for their rights.

The NBA leaders who are spearheading the agitation said that there were ten legislative assembly seats in the five dam-affected regions of the Narmada valley — Harda, Harsud, Mandhaka, Baagli, Kannaud, Khategaon, Kasravad, Maheshwar, Badwa and Bhikangaon. Thousands of victims live in each of these regions.

In addition, the already uprooted people of the Indira Sagar dam are scattered in the adjoining electoral areas, so, in all, dam victims could swing votes in 15 seats. As the struggle gathers momentum, there is no doubt that the impact will spread to other seats as well.

Thousands of victims who came to Bhopal from the five districts of the Narmada valley — Khandwa, Harda, Dewas, Khargone and Dhar — gave the government five days to respond to their issues. They warned that if the government refused to meet their legitimate demands and provide them their just entitlements, the struggle would spread and intensify in the valley, and the government would have to face unfavourable consequences in the coming elections.

Shuriah Niazi is a freelance journalist based in central India.

Sidebar: Narmada Bachao Andolan

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is a social movement which began in 1985 and has the support of the displaced people of Narmada valley. The movement began with the construction of large dams in the Narmada river. The Narmada River is the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh and also flows through the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Tribals from the mountain ranges of Satpuda and Vindhyachal, farmers and labourers have continued their struggle and challenged the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) and the construction of other large dams in the region through NBA. They allege that these dams have destroyed prime agricultural land, large tracts of forests, horticulture and densely populated regions.

Side Bar

Main demands

1. The affected people of the Omkareshwar, Indira Sagar, Maheshwar, Man and Beda dams must be provided land to the extent of land acquired, with a minimum of 2 hectares, or they should be assisted to purchase this entitlement.

2. Every landless family affected by each of these dams should be allowed 6 months to resettle after they have been given compensation they are entitled to.

3. All rehabilitation and resettlement entitlements are to be provided before submergence.

4. If some people have lost land, but their houses have not been submerged, these houses should be acquired and the families concerned rehabilitated.

5. In the 41 villages of the Indira Sagar project whose backwater survey has not been carried out, the survey must be done, the necessary land and properties acquired, and the villagers rehabilitated and resettled.

6. People of the New Harsud resettlement site are suffering enormously because of lack of employment. Arrangements for their employment must immediately be made.

7. The lands of the villages of Dewas — namely Dharaji, Kothmir, Narsinghpura, Nayapura and Guwadi — who are affected by the Omkareshwar dam must be acquired and the villagers rehabilitated and resettled.