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In recent pictures, Medha Patkar, India’s most famous environmental activist and spearhead of the 20-year campaign to protect thousands of impoverished families affected by the multi-billion dollar Narmada Valley development project, lies listlessly. As her hunger strike enters the 18th day, she refuses to call off her fast and the doctors report that she is in critical health. In a blatant violation of Supreme Court orders, the Narmada Control Authority on March 8 gave a clearance to the increase in dam height at the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). If construction proceeds, 200 villages will be submerged by the monsoon season in 2006, without either rehabilitation or even compensation. On March 11, the Union Minister for Water Resources, Shri Saifuddin Soz, had this to say about the decision to raise the height of the dam, “I am not at all satisfied with the rehabilitation of the project-affected families. The clearance given by the resettlement and rehabilitation subgroup of the Narmada Control Authority to raise the dam height was premature.” Medha Patkar, Jamsingh Nargave and Bhagwatibai Jatpuria started an indefinite fast on March 29 in Delhi in order to press for the revocation of the illegal decision to increase the dam height. Hundreds of people have been sitting with them in solidarity for several days. Rather than engage in a dialogue, the government reacted by detaining and forcibly removing the fasting activists.
Medha on fast in Delhi before her arrest Photo: www.narmada.org On April 5, AID issued a press release condemning the forced removal of the activists to hospitals in New Delhi. On April 7, about 100 people in AID chapters in US undertook a one-day solidarity fast on in support of the activists in Delhi. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) urged concerned citizens around the world to write to India’s Prime Minister to revoke the raise in dam height. More than 300 scientists and engineers, including several faculty members at prestigious universities in India and US, slammed the SSP engineers for projecting unrealistic power benefits and misguiding state governments. The concerned scientists and engineers issued an open challenge in an online Narmada Petition to the SSP engineers to either sign a legally enforceable bond making them responsible for any shortfall below the projected figures or publicly apologize for misleading the people and join Medha Patkar’s fast. A three member ministerial team visited Narmada villages and supposed rehabilitation sites for 1 day, accompanied by AID Jeevan Saathi Ravi Kuchimanchi, Dr B.D. Sharma, Prashant Bhushan and Denzel Saldhana, among others. As of writing, however, their report has not been made public. Aruna Roy and a wide section of the press have demanded this report be made public as per the Right to Information Act, since it involves life and liberty of the people of the Narmada valley and those fasting. The NBA's non-violent protest is a reminder that the spirit of Gandhi is alive and well in modern India. The detentions and forced removals are intended to break the will of the fasting activists. Yet the people’s struggle continues and at stake is the basic human right to life and livelihood. Resources:
http://www.narmada.org http://petitions.aidindia.org/narmada_petition UPDATE: The ministerial team report has been published in the Hindu. ----
Shivani Saxena is a civil and environmental engineer, and an AID volunteer since 2004. |
