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AID India volunteer, Aravinda Pillalamarri reports on Jansahyog's work in the Narmada Valley. Over the past several years, the Narmada Valley has faced increasing submergence. Bombay Sarvodaya Friendship Center has worked with Narmada Navnirman Abhiyan to deliver basic relief to the worst-affected tribal families struggling for rehabilitation. In the past two years, the Jansahyog program has provided food grains and tarpaulin sheets, for protection from rains, to 330 families in 17 villages, who were otherwise homeless and on the brink of starvation. Recently, two of these villages obtained land and resettled. In the coming year, the program aims to reach 1000 families living in 50 tribal villages of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Gujarat. Through more than 20 years of continuous and intense struggle, people of the Narmada Valley have obtained land-based rehabilitation, as required by law, for nearly 10,000 families displaced by the Sardar Sarovar dam. However in many cases, families are unable to cultivate the land for various reasons; sometimes the resettlement sites face monsoonal flooding, resulting in total crop loss. With the dam now at 119 meters, nearly 35,000 families face submersion without any rehabilitation. In MP, the government has no land to offer. In Maharashtra, while alotting lands, albeit slowly, the government sent a Patrolling Board to monitor the water levels, alert and assist the villagers prior to submergence. However, on the night of August 6, after the officials departed, Bhamtya's family in Dhankedi awoke when water seeped through their cots; they rushed to untie the animals, and then back to carry their children to higher ground. They suffered loss of their belongings, including their land rights documents.
With Jansahyog support, families like Bhamtya's will be able to survive as they struggle for their rights. For more information, and to pledge your support, please see http://www.aidindia.org/sahyog. ---
Aravinda Pillalamarri (AID India)
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