Chasing The Expert Committee Along The Narmada Canal

By Ananyaa Gaur

19 September, 2015
Countercurrents.org

“There has been seepage in my farm for 5 years now, and I have lost my crops, my only source of livelihood. Whenever we approach NVDA, they snub us, they do not even entertain our complaints. Whom should we go to for all the destruction these half built canals have caused? How can we prevent these negative impacts? If not these Babus in the cars then who? ”

Devkaur lashed out at the officials when they refused to come out of their cars and visit her farm.

ON 8th September villagers of Mundla (a village, 25 km from Indore) sat and protested in front of the cars by blocking the way of the Expert Committee which was appointed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, to monitor the environmental aspects of the Indira Sagar (ISP) and Omkareshwar (OSP) canals.

Omkareshwar and IndraSagar are bothcanal projects that are part of a larger multipurpose dam project constructed across river Narmada for hydro-power and storage for irrigation in Madhya Pradesh.Together, they cover land of Mandhata, Kasrawad, Barwaha, Maheshwar, Manawar, Kukshiandareas of Khandwa, Khargone and Dhar Districts, covering approximately 1100 villages.

What were the villagers requesting? Why did they resort to blocking the way of officials?

The villagers of Mundla, like those of 15-20 other villages were merely demanding that the members of the expert committee which had been appointed to monitor the environmental impacts of the canals, visit their farms and village and view for themselves the mayhem that the canals (minor canals) had caused in their lives.

Local farmers and activists of Narmada BachaoAndolan had done a sample survey in about 10 villages in 2013, and the cumulative loss was valued at Rs. 6 crores in actual crop losses.

Currently 1100 villages are claimed to be benefited by both the canals (since the area is massive, giving a number is difficult).
Many more villages are likely to suffer in the coming years as very little Command Area Development works have been taken up in the area where the canal excavation is undertaken.

Crop loss is an immediate impact, but over a period of time through multiple water-logging, soil quality of the land also gets affected, top soil gets eroded. Even by a conservative estimate many hundreds of acres of land has suffered seepage.

In pursuance of the directions of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, the Expert Committee has thus far, completed 6 field visits and submitted reports on the status of Command Area Development works and canal construction in the context of the IndraSagarProject and OmkareshwarProjects.

Now, what the committee will write or will not write in its report that is due before the 18th of Septemberis another matter altogether, what needs attention at this point is the way this 7th‘monitoring’ visit was conducted. The expert committee seemed to be led by the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA). The NVDA was formed in 1985 by the government of Madhya Pradesh, to oversee all major development projects in the Narmada Basin and to ensures that proper rehabilitation is provided to the displaced, and the negative impacts on environment are minimized by taking appropriate measures.

The expert committee with Chairperson Dr. B.P. Das, Hydrologist; Mr. B.B. Barman, Director, MoEF and Mr. Lakhwinder Singh, Member-Secretary & Regional Director, MoEF, Bhopal ,visited the canal areas on 7th and 8th September, 2015 in 6-7 cars. Numerous farmers from the affected regions and activists of Narmada BachaoAndolan followed or rather chased the teams in their cars as they went along the canal route to inspect the work, since neither the villagers nor the village panchayats knew about the visit. The farmers also tried their best to make sure that the Committee which has a primary mandate to investigate the “environmental violations” does not spend time only on the engineering aspects of the irrigation projects.

On being asked about the schedule of the two days, the NVDA very righteously proclaimed that it was a ‘spontaneous visit’, with no pre-decided schedule, or none that they were willing to share.

The spontaneity was visible in the ‘pandals’ that had been erected at a few pre-decided sites, in the mithai-distribution and in sapling-plantation activities.

Distraught farmers, wanted the committee to see the condition of their farms, the excessive silt collection and cracks in the canals. They wanted the committee to acknowledge the faulty construction and a dialogue for compensation. Many farmers who came with photographs and evidence of flooding which the canals had caused in the earlier (monsoon) seasons for the Expert committee to view, were snubbed by the NVDA officials “We are here today to inspect, and don’t see any flooding, how should we believe you ?”

The so-called Action Taken Report (ATR) by the NVDA on the 6th Monitoring Report of the Expert Committee did not respond to the major issues / violations pointed out by the Committee itself in the previous reports including inadequate, poor quality canal construction and on-farm development (ODF) as well as command area development (CAD) works leading to canal breaches, seepage and water logging. All these have caused sever crop losses to the farmers worth lakhs of rupees for the past few years.

While on the one hand, officials tried every possible way to mislead the Committee, by taking longer routes, skipping key problematic areas, only visiting he ‘decorated’ spots on the canal, on the other, many farmers who followed the Committee at every spot, tried their best to make sure that the Committee which has a primary mandate to investigate the “environmental violations” does not spend time only on the engineering aspects of the irrigation projects. NVDA officials also tried to intimidate any farmer whose opinion digressed from theirs.

The Committee visited a few canal sites covered by the Omkareshwar Project on the first day. The first part of the day was spent at the Phase-I areas such as Omati Distributary, Satajana andBediya distributary. As the Committee moved further to Mogava, Londhi, Barlai, Palsudthe problems of cracks alongside the canals, incomplete lining, and broken siphons, cropped up where farmers complained of water logging.

Poor siphoning had led to deposits of huge silt in the canal tracks, which was evident on the first day itself. Farmers informed the Committee that lining from Village Nazarpur (Tehsil Maheshwar) to Village Badvi (Maheshwar) upto end of Phase II of OSP is pending over a stretch of 50 kms. Much work of sub-minors and field channels is also yet to be done here.

While NVDA made tall claims of “newer areas under irrigation”, local farmers and activists of NBA pointed out that much of the sub-minor and field channels work remained and NVDA cannot claim completion of Phase-wise work without this. This was also exposed by the hundreds of private pipelines that the Committee itself saw all along the main canal. NBA demanded that phase-wise information should be sought from engineers of the actual area under irrigation through direct lifting from canals and through surface / canal irrigation.

In Phase-III, despite the Committee’s assurance that it would pass through the main canal, officials led to the Committee through the main highway, leaving aside the canal area. Yet again, adivasi women and men and other farmers stopped the Committee at the Khadkal Bridge and protested in front of the Committee’s vehicles.

The villagers wanted to to be heard, and the peaceful dharna ultimately led the committee to relent and go back to the spot at Mundla. Here, they say that despite 7 years of muck depositions on the un-acquired farm of BabuBau, neither compensation had been paid, nor any pathway had been or was planned to be constructed in his field.

The only reward he and his family members got from NVDA has been a few weeks of jail and endless court dates now.

Ananyaa Gaur is a Social researcher and photo-journalist with a post graduate degree from TISS, currently a consultant with Society for Rural Urban and Tribal Initiative.