Dr.Ravi Kuchimanchi urges the Prime Minister in this open letter to put petty politics aside and take a meaningful and truthful stand about the rehabilitation of displaced people, rather than actualizing construction without rehabilitation and trying to hoodwink the Supreme Court and the nation like any other run-of-the-mill politician.The full text of the letter can also be found at OutlookIndia.
April 19, 2006 To
Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Prime Minister of India, Dear Prime Minister, Instead of acting on the report of the Group of Ministers who visited the Narmada valley, the union government has promised the Supreme Court that the Sardar Sarovar oustees "would be completely rehabilitated before August, 2006, the period of onset of monsoon." [1] We wonder if you are aware that as per the India Meterological Department [3] the onset of the southwest monsoon in the Narmada valley is from June 10-15 every year and the withdrawal is Sept 15-Oct 1. So, by August, we will be half way into the monsoons! Do you expect that the displaced families, even if they were magically rehabilitated by Aug 1, will plough their lands – assuming they are allotted lands and not cash – and sow the seeds in August for the monsoons that start in June? If they are even now allotted cash, do you expect them to purchase lands, till them and be ready for cultivation this monsoons? Have you forgotten that by June last year the monsoon was in full swing and hundreds of people were dying in the floods in Gujarat? The Sardar Sarovar dam was overflowing at 110 mts and by July 1, 2005 already the newspapers were quoting Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd as saying that had the dam height been 121.9 mts., the reservoir would have filled up by then instead of the waters flowing waste to the sea. [2] In fact, not only in 2005, but in many of the past years the dam was overflowing in July itself. Of course this is to be expected as whether there are heavy rains in Gujarat or Maharashtra or Madhya Pradesh, the SSP dam overflows and by June or July every year at least one of these states in the catchment area of SSP receives huge rainfall. So how did your government arrive at the August deadline for rehabilitating families and claim that is when monsoons started? If you are really concerned about rehabilitating families, as you have said, then surely you must realize that this can only be done by immediately calling halt to dam construction so as to minimize the scale of displaced families, and then on a war footing rehabilitating those that are left so that they are not endangered by the rising waters in June and July. The Narmada Tribunal Award required that rehabilitation should be completed 6 months before submergence and this any way has not been done. There was a reason why they said 6 months. They appreciated that it takes time for farmers and adivasis to move to new sites and prepare their new lands for the monsoon crop. Your government has shown little understanding of the time needed by the adivasis and farmers. The union government cannot be blamed for stopping the Sardar Sarovar construction if rehabilitation has not been done by Madhya Pradesh and other state governments. With a clear conscience we request you to re-examine the rationale for choosing August as the deadline, and if it is really to ensure that rehabilitation is completed before onset of monsoons as stated by the union government, then you must halt construction keeping in view that the onset of monsoons is in June and not August. Like a statesman, you need to be truthful and not change the monsoon arrival dates to hoodwink the Supreme Court and the nation. These are ploys that any run-of-the-mill politician employs, not a statesman. The SC has empowered you to halt construction if rehabilitation cannot be completed by the time monsoons arrive. We are awaiting a statesman-like Prime Minister of India who puts petty politics aside and takes a meaningful and truthful stand that signals that true development can only happen when the rights of the displaced adivasis and farmers are not robbed. Otherwise, you are playing the cruelest joke possible on the people of the Narmada valley by pretending to care for them but actually being hand-in-glove with the state governments of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in actualizing construction without rehabilitation. Sincereley,
Ravi Kuchimanchi
Friends of River Narmada
Ravi Kuchimanchi is a B Tech from IIT Bombay and PhD from University of Maryland in USA who went along with the group of ministers as an observer to tour the Narmada valley. References: 1. 'The Centre informed the court that the oustees would be completely rehabilitated before August, 2006, the period of onset of monsoon.' In addition to the link in the text, also see: The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Hindu. 2. Statements by SSP's Lahiri and report on July 1 2005: "I am helpless, tell me what to do,'' says Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) MD P K Laheri. ''All this water could have been saved…" …. The dam is now 110.64 metres high. Had the state government got permission to raise it to 121.94 metres, it would have held the water, but the problem is that Madhya Pradesh has to complete rehabilitation of the project-affected families (PAFs). 3. Normal dates for Onset of Southwest Monsoons in different regions of India: India Meterological Dept: For Narmada region – June 10-15. |
