No ‘saath’ or sympathy for the Narmada homeless

It’s been almost 30 years since the Narmada Bachao Andolan began and yet there is no end in sight. The BJP, which had promised that every family would have a home in their manifesto is clearly not interested in rehabilitating those affected by the Narmada River Valley Project. As has become the norm, promises continue to remain on paper, while coercive policies are followed on ground.

In an attempt to make their voices heard, more than 40 of those who have been ousted from their homes because of the project are protesting in Delhi to coincide with the indefinite fast by social activist and NBA leader Medha Patkar in MP. She maintains 40,000 affected families are yet to be rehabilitated.

Kailash Avasya(52) from Bhilkeda in Barwani

“We have no choice but to protest,” says Avasya. Most of his 16-acres of land is submerged under water. This was an extremely fertile piece of land where cotton, chilli, pigeon pea (Tur dal), sorghum (Jowar), chickpea(Chana Dal) and corn used to be cultivated.

“We have been protesting with Medha tai since 1990. Mine is a slightly sloping land and most of it has submerged. We have been demanding compensation from the government but have not got anything. Government has stated on paper that we have been given five acres in Borgaon, but they refused to show us where. This is more than 200 kms away from home,” added Avasya.

Eventually Avasya, without any government assistance, went to see this land. “It is mountainous and stony. No cultivation is possible and if we cannot grow anything on the land, how will we survive? I filed a complaint at the Grievance Redressal Authority. An order was passed to give me cultivable land. Eventually the government identified land in Antarai in Dhar, but at the last moment, the government refused to give it. Even today, if they give me that land, I’ll take it because it has fertile soil,” said Avasya.

Initially, the government offered families ₹5 lakh each, which would amount to nothing. This was despite the Supreme Court order that land should be given to those whose land was going to face submergence. The Supreme Court had ordered the MP government to give ₹70 lakh to those affected.

“I’m a petitioner in that case too. There are 460 families in my village, but the government has only 235 plots, so how can they move,” questions Avasya, who resolutely says that they would not move. “This protest does affect our lives. I have six daughters and the oldest is studying engineering and I am yet to pay her fees. I have to borrow money to pay it,” said Avasya, who hopes the money will come soon.

In the forest area of Barwani, at least 100 families have not been compensated at all. In Pichaudi, there are 780 villagers and the government has 62 plots. In Alirajpur district, 26 villages will be submerged and none of them have been compensated or rehabilitated. “Only 50 persons have actually been given land and even in these cases, the land ownership papers have errors and nothing can be cultivated on the land given to them,” added Avasya.

Gamla Yadav(60) from Chhota Barda

She is one of the few women at the protest site in the Capital. “I do not have any land which will get submerged but the land of our relatives and other family members will be. Many of them have not got any compensation and life is becoming extremely difficult back home. If everyone sits at home, then how will any issue come to be highlighted,” said Yadav, with the conviction only a woman can have.

She is a Gandhian, she says, and she walks the path of Satyagraha. “Money and jobs are not everything; there is a thing called humanity. We have been beaten up, put in prisons and yet, we have never fought the police,” added Yadav, who has been working with Patkar for 32 years.

Ranveer Tomar (64) from Simalda

“There are 440 families in Simalda whose land have gone under water, but the government claims that there are only 327 families to be compensated. What about the rest? They are also restricting us from using water for irrigation. The authorities are saying that the water will now go to Gujarat,” said Tomar.

The government has been claiming that they have rehabilitated all the families. “It is nothing but a lie. The Central Water Commission had done a survey of the land to decide the areas which would be submerged. After the survey, they arbitrarily decided that 16,000 families would not fall under this. Of this, some of them have already faced submergence and the others will. Madhya Pradesh is a power surplus state, so why are they increasing the height of the dam now? It will be a major disaster,” warns Tomar.

There are some others who have travelled to Delhi because they have not been allotted the 60x90 sq feet plot that they were promised along with the replacement value of the house. They had to be rehabilitated six months before the submergence and only then were they to vacate their house and land.

The condition of those who have moved is pitiable, say many of the farmers who have come here. They live in areas where there is no electricity, no water and no roads even. “So why should we move,” is the oft repeated statement.

But for now, the protest will continue. The land and the house they own is the only leverage they have when confronting a cold government.

Their case will come up for hearing on August 8 at the Supreme Court and on August 9 at the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The lives and expectations of many ride on these.