Home

Follow Countercurrents on Twitter 

Google+ 

Support Us

Submission Policy

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

CounterSolutions

CounterImages

CounterVideos

Editor's Picks

Press Releases

Action Alert

Feed Burner

Read CC In Your
Own Language

Bradley Manning

India Burning

Mumbai Terror

Financial Crisis

Iraq

AfPak War

Peak Oil

Globalisation

Localism

Alternative Energy

Climate Change

US Imperialism

US Elections

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Book Review

Gujarat Pogrom

Kandhamal Violence

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

About Us

Disclaimer

Fair Use Notice

Contact Us

Search Our Archive

 



Our Site

Web

Subscribe To Our
News Letter

Name: E-mail:

 

Printer Friendly Version

Raising The Height Of The Sardar Sarovar Project Dam
Is A Betrayal Of The Displaced People

By Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere

01 July, 2013
Countercurrents.org

From :

Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd)
475, 7th Main Road
Vijayanagar 1st Stage
Mysore-570017

E-mail :< [email protected] >

By E-mail To :

# Shri Pranab Mukherjee; President of India, < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >;

# Dr.Manmohan Singh; Prime Minister of India < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >;

# Smt. Sonia Gandhi; President, United Progressive Alliance < [email protected] n >;

# Smt.Jayanthi Natarajan; Union Minister for Environment & Forests, < [email protected] >;

# Kum. Selja; Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >;

# Shri Harish Rawat; Union Minister for Water Resources, < [email protected] >;

# Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan; Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >;

# Shri Prithviraj Chauhan; Chief Minister, Maharashtra, < [email protected] >;

# Dr.Patangrao Kadam; Maharashtra's Minister for Forests and R&R, < [email protected] >;

# Shri Sudhir Bhargav, I.A.S; Chairman R&R (SSP); Secretary, Union Ministry of SJ &E < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >;

# Shri Afroz Ahmed; Director, RR & Impact Assessment, Narmada Control Authority < [email protected] >; < [email protected] >;

# Shri Milind Mhaiskar, I.A.S; Relief & Rehabilitation Commissioner, Maharashtra, < sec_r&[email protected] >;

Subject: RAISING SSP DAM HEIGHT TO 138.68-m BEFORE COMPLETING REHABILITATION

Respected Sirs and Madams,

1. Raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) dam from the present 122-m to the full finished height of 138.68-m was to be implemented only after full rehabilitation of all project-affected families (PAFs) upto the level of 122-m, according to the ruling of the Supreme Court.

2. The state governments of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have confirmed to the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) that the rehabilitation upto submergence level of 122-m is complete. I am sorry to have to inform you that this confirmation is false. How can Government of Madhya Pradesh be telling the truth when it has allotted land to only 21 PAFs, that too in the very recent past, and more than 4,000 PAFs remain without rehabilitation, many of them cheated through fake land registries? Government of Maharashtra too, is still searching to locate land to establish R&R sites, and Gujarat's PAFs also await declaration, allotment of land and / or amenities in the original villages as well as resettlement sites.

3. Thus, even as on date, thousands of PAFs are yet to get land, thousands more alternative livelihood, fishing rights, housing plots at R&R sites and other amenities and entitlements. And major environmental non-compliance has been exposed by MoEF's expert committees. This, you would be well aware, is because of rampant corruption at various levels of governance and administration in all the three states. Indeed, c orruption amounting to around Rs.1,000 crores, misappropriated over the years by officials and agents in rehabilitation, is still under inquiry by the Justice Jha Commission.

4. In this background and in view of the fact that the PAFs have been agitating peacefully and continuously for many years, demanding nothing more than justice and their rightful dues from the state and central governments , conscientious and honest administrators at senior levels would have visited the PAF in the submergence areas to verify the progress of rehabilitation. However, the reports received from the lower administrative levels are being accepted as correct and true, and used as the basis for high-level decisions that directly impact the lives and livelihoods of the disempowered, peacefully agitating PAFs. I am sure you will agree with me that this is mal-governance and mal-administration at best, but more likely corruption-linked complicity.

5. The questions that are being asked are, who benefits from this acceptance of false reports, if not the corrupt members of the politico-bureaucratic administration who operate in a nexus with corporate deep pockets, and how are they allowed to get away with this disempowerment of poor people and looting of public money, if not by brutal suppression of agitations and agitators.

6. Besides the above on injustice, mal-governance and corruption, providing false information is a criminal offence and, if produced before the Supreme Court, may also constitute contempt of that Court, which has justly mandated that at each phase of raising the dam height, full rehabilitation shall always precede the construction, since people have to be rehabilitated before submergence begins.

7. I write in amazement at the callous attitude of the governments' ministries and administrations, that care not for the norms of social justice and empowerment, nor for the non-compliance of environmental law and rules, but use brute force of police lathi and gun to crush peaceful demonstrations, and foist concocted criminal charges on and imprison demonstrators and activists who support them.

8. The present situation (and this is unfortunately not limited to the Narmada Valley and the SSP dam) amounts to the organized exploitation of the socio-economically weak by depriving them of land and livelihood, and using administrative and police force to crush dissent and just demands. To paraphrase Gandhiji when he wrote in “Young India” in British times, today, 66 years after Independence, the peacefully agitating PAFs are challenging the might of state and central governments because they consider their activity to be anti-people and corporate- and corruption-oriented, and, besides demanding justice and their rightful dues, desire to show that the Government exists to serve the people, not the people, the Government.

9. I therefore very earnestly request all of you jointly and severally, to merely do your sworn duty to serve the people, by (1) very urgently personally visiting the PAFs in the submergence areas and allowing them free speech unmonitored by police , before accepting the false “rehabilitation complete” reports from the lower levels of governance and administration, and (2) until then, put on hold the decision to raise the SSP dam height to 138.68-m . Following that, if you still decide to go ahead before rehabilitation is genuinely completed and verified again, the responsibility for perpetrating anti-people governance and pro-corruption decision will rest at your door-step, and will not be forgotten by the PAFs, and others who speak for democracy, peace and social justice. I also request that officials at whatever level who are responsible for providing false and misleading “rehabilitation complete” reports be proceeded against for their criminal acts.

Yours faithfully,

Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd)

 

 

 




 

 


Comments are moderated