Victims of world’s 2nd biggest dam in India cry for justice

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SRD), the country’s biggest dam and the world’s second-largest, in the western state of Gujarat.
He said the dam is a “symbol of India’s new and emerging power that would propel growth in the region,” adding that it “has the potential to change the lives of farmers” in Gujarat.
But Rehmat Mansoory, 48, from Chikhaldwa village in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said he will soon lose his house and all his land — 4.5 acres — to the SRD.
“I just see dark in front of me, no hope, as the promised compensation and relocation haven’t come yet,” he told Arab News.
“All this talk of a new India is meaningless if thousands of families are rendered homeless and aren’t compensated properly,” said the farmer, whose family has lived in Chikhaldwa for generations.
Devram Kaneria from neighboring Khapar Khera village shared the same concerns, telling Arab News: “India can’t grow at the cost of Indians. You can’t destroy us and develop India.”
The government says the SRD, built on the Narmada River, will provide electricity to three big states — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujrat — in western and central India. The dam will also supply water to 9,000 villages.
The project has been beset by controversy ever since its foundation was laid in 1961 by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The dam was initially planned to be 80 meters high, but has been raised to nearly 139 meters, leading to environmental and human problems.
In 1980, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), or the Save Narmada Movement, started under the leadership of Medha Patkar to fight for the rights of the people whose lands would be flooded due to the dam.
Construction started in 1987, but the Supreme Court paused it for four years due to a petition filed by the NBA in 1996.
The court ordered the resumption of work and the raising of the dam’s height on condition that the people affected be relocated.
“There’s a precondition as per the law, that without completing relocation no one’s property can be submerged,” Patkar told Arab News.
“But the government inaugurated the project without taking into consideration that there are still thousands of people in the affected areas whose properties, houses, temples and mosques are still lying in the submergence area, and the government hasn’t relocated them yet,” she said.
“Modi is playing politics. He has inaugurated the project keeping in mind state elections in Gujarat, which are due in a few months.”
She added that “41,000 km of canals are still not built. How can Modi claim the project is complete?”
Mansoory asked: “What will happen if water is released in my village? Where will I go? Why is the government not paying us compensation despite the Supreme Court order?”
He added: “The dam is a nightmare for me. I have only one house, and as per the court order I should get 6 million rupees ($93,267), but even after years of struggle I haven’t received anything.”