It acted in the nick of time
realizing that there was clear and present danger to 30,000 families in
the submergence zone who were not rehabilitated while the governments were
planning to take it further higher to 121.92 metres this summer. The
Honorable Court gave an unequivocal judgement saying its directions on
rehabilitation "have not been implemented in letter and spirit" by the
governments and has said that the dam cannot be raised until the
rehabilitation is completed before construction to any height. Not
rehabilitating families and then claiming that people who are fighting for
their rights are environmentalists is a pathetic lie that will no longer
carry weight in this country since our grassroots peoples movements have
proved their scientific mettle in exposing flaws in the language of figures
that engineers and dam builders should understand. At least the Courts and
people have.
This is not to say that Hydel power is something that we people do not
want. But I am sure none of us would want any more power or water if we
knew that to provide that extra light-bulb or even an air-conditioner, a
tribal family was made homeless and a farmer lost his fields. We can do
better by saving energy and water in our usage. Let's rehabilitate the
people as per established scientific principles..... which means
independently verifiable rehabilitation of all displaced people, and then
we can talk about environmental consequences of dams in India vis a vis
their benefits. Otherwise if we are to sit and read analysis from pro-dam,
anti-people lobbies about environment then what are we to think? That
those who don't care about the people sacrificing their farms and houses
for the dams, will suddenly care about the forests, elephants, spotted owl
and the ecosystems maintained by rivers?
The writer continued his venomous assault on the people's movements:
"Opposition to Hydel power comes from the NGOs supported by the West."
Pardon me, but I thought it was the dams that were built with foreign
support. Did not the $450 million World Bank money lay the foundation for
the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) as the Bank intended? Of course if there
was no dam then there wouldn't have been the Narmada movement, and maybe in
this sense the World Bank support did create the opposition. Is it this
remarkable subtlety the author is referring to? Somehow I don't think
so. It is people who have been carelessly expected to sacrifice their
homes and farms that are opposing the dams that are bringing them no
benefit, let's get that clear.
The Sardar Sarovar web-site proudly states: "The power generated from both
the power houses is to be evacuated through 400 KV Transmission
lines." EVACUATED? From the Narmada valley??? The next line says the power
is being transmitted to the 3 states from the dam site via links like
SSP-Dhule that have been commissioned. What about the adivasi villages
living in darkness along the 250 KM long reservoir of the SSP dam. Their
lower lying hamlets are being submerged by the dam's reservoir. Is it
wrong to expect that the upper-lying hamlets of the same displaced villages
should get the power benefits? Indeed if the power from the Sardar Sarovar
dam was going to benefit the Narmada valley people, would we have used the
word evacuate? If these village people were involved in planning the dam,
wouldn't they have got the basic justice issues right?
The Sardar Sarovar dam was taken to 110.64 metres last year harping on just
one agenda -- electricity generation begins at this height. How much
electricity did Maharshtra get from SSP? In answer the information office
of Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) has replied: 67.863 Million
Units in 8 months from Aug 2004 through March 2005. This would have been
barely sufficient to run 11781 air-conditioners in Mumbai during those
months. Was it worth the cost with thousands of families shelterless and
impoverished? Can someone tell me? Or are we all environmentalists?
---
Ravi Kuchimanchi is the founder of the
Association for India's Development (AID)
Click here to read the opinion article in Times of India, September 19, 2005
Hydel power, our best hope
