President urged to protect livelihood rights of over 40,000 residents of Narmada Valley

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Ghazanfar Abbas, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, June 3: Activists from across the country, on behalf of some 40, 000 villagers, have urged President Pranab Mukherjee to stop the submergence of 193 villages in the Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh due to the Sardar Sarovar dam till the state government compensates and rehabilitates all the affecting families.

The delegation that met the President has alleged that the state BJP government and the authorities are not implementing the Supreme Court order dated 8th February 2017, in which the apex court had asked the govt. to provide compensation to and complete rehabilitation of the affected villages before submergence.

“As per Supreme Court order, the eviction should be done before 31st July and villagers should be served notice six months prior. Neither rehabilitation sites are prepared, nor has any survey for rehabilitation been done yet. This is inhumane to uproot all these villages without the rehabilitation of the people,” said Vimal, member of Matu Jan Sangathan while speaking to IndiaTomorrow.net.

The Supreme Court had fixed 8th May, 2017 as the last date for giving compensation and ensuring complete rehabilitation. But the state government has not done any survey to enlist all the project affected families entitled to compensation and rehabilitation as per the rehabilitation policy.

Speaking to IndiaTomorrow.net, Hannan Mollah, General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha and former MP said: “On 31st of July they (govt.) are going to close the gates of the Sardar Sarovar dam. But no rehabilitation has been done yet. People are being asked to leave villages forcefully. They (Govt.) are ignoring the interest of the farmers. Every family has 15-20 cattle too, so not just people will be affected, the cattle will also die. This Is a crime against humanity. So, we have urged President to intervene into the matter.”

Members of ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ protest against the closure of Sardar Sarovar Dam at Shram Shakti Bhavan in New Delhi on 17th May, 2017. (Photo – PTI)

The region under submergence is full of agricultural lands, forests, cultural sites and schools. Due to the project, along with the affected villagers, millions of trees, a large patch of forest and the whole Narmada Civilization will be submerged. The villagers have also been protesting against Sardar Sarovar Dam project for last 31 years under the banner of Narmada Bachao Andolan led by eminent activist Medha Patkar.

A memorendum submitted to the President stated: “You can still save them and ensure justice. We request you to urgently intervene and seek a status report from the Narmada Control Authority before taking any decision on the closure of gates of the Sardar Sarovar dam. We are disturbed by the situation that the State and the concerned authorities are moving forward in the direction of complying to the 2nd part of the Supreme Court judgment which talks about forceful eviction by 31st July 2017 but clearly ignoring the 1st part of the SC judgment which is about complete rehabilitation of the project affected families of which not even 50% has been rehabilitated…………….There have been incidences where “without ensuring compensation and complete rehabilitation, project affected families are being asked to vacate their villages within 3 days”.

The memorandum was signed by total 157 activists including Hannan Mollah, Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Annie Raja of National Federation for Indian Women (NFIW) and Vimal under the banner of National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM).

Activists also urged President to direct the state govt. to constitute a committee to assess the impact of submergence on environment, river and forest and also the impact in downstream flow of the river.

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