HOUSES IN VADGAM, MANIBELI TEMPLE SUBMERGED
The house of Mr Bhulubhai Tadvi, the first upstream of the Sardar
Sarovar dam, was submerged in the fast-rising waters of the
Narmada in the early morning of Monday, 12 July. Bhulubhai and
his two sons were arrested the previous afternoon along with 8
other villagers and activists in contravention to a Gujarat High
Court stay order against forcible evictions in Vadgam and the
other Gujarat submergence villages. Bhulubhai's cattle were the
only possessions rescued from his house which is now under more
than 8m of water. All those arrested were released after being
taken to higher land in Vadgam, or to Kevadia Colony or other
nearby towns.
Bhulubhai's neighbour, Mrs Kamlibhen Tadvi, was also evicted
from her house by the police. She was taken along with her
belongings to a tin shed built as a flood shelter in a higher part of
the village. Her house has also been submerged. The police and
dam authorities have been harassing people living in a group of
houses a couple of kilometres upstream from Bhulubhai's which
are at imminent risk of submergence. Thirty people from 8 of
these families have had to move to Kothi, a village beside Kevadia
Colony, where they are staying with NBA supporters. Fifteen other
families living further upstream in Vadgam were also evicted on
Sunday night. The NBA does not know where they have been
taken.
The ancient Shoolpaneshwar temple in Manibeli, on the bank
opposite Vadgam, was reported to be under around 4m of water
on Monday. The site in Manibeli where the house of Mr Keshubhai
Tadvi had stood until it was taken down by the police in early
June has also been flooded. Resettlement officials visited the
village yesterday, Monday, and tried to persuade villagers to
move out.
The authorities are not allowing any outsiders, including
journalists, into Vadgam and Manibeli. Himanshu Thakker of the
NBA says there is a "general atmosphere of terror and
intimidation" in the villages. The police are arresting anyone
moving around in Vadgam; the navy is patrolling the river in
motor launches; and 400 police reinforcements are waiting in
Kevadia. Thakker describes the present situation as an "illegal
submergence caused by illegal construction."
The NBA plan to hold a "dharna" to protest against the forced
evictions in Ahmedabad, the main city of Gujarat, on Saturday, 17
July. Another "dharna" is planned to start in Delhi on 25th July.
The "Special Group on Narmada" promised by the central
government to look into the Sardar Sarovar Project has not yet
been formed, causing the NBA to become increasingly sceptical
about the government's commitment to review the project.
Upstream from SSP, the police are attempting to intimidate the
victims of the Bargi Dam on the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh who
have reoccupied a village in the submergence zone. The gates of
the dam have been left open so that the village has not yet been
flooded. A meeting between the protesters and the Governor of
MP scheduled for Monday, 12 July, has been put off until this
Thursday.
ACTION
Write letters to the below addresses protesting at the illegal
forced eviction of the people in Vadgam and the fact that despite
guarantees to the contrary dam construction continued to a height
where submergence of the houses of villagers who had not been
resettled was inevitable. Also urge that the "Special Group on
Narmada" be constituted as soon as possible in agreement with
the NBA.
Prime Minister Mr Narasimha Rao, PM's Secretariat, South Block,
New Delhi 110001, fax +91 11 301 6857 / 9817.
Mr VC Shukla, Minister of Water Resources, New Delhi 110001.
Indian ambassadors/high commissioners in your country.
Also write to your World Bank Executive Director and to World
Bank President Lewis Preston reminding them that it was the
Bank's funding which allowed the dam to reach its present level
and demanding that all new Bank lending to India be made
conditional upon the ending of forced evictions behind Sardar
Sarovar and a stop to dam construction so that no more families
will face submergence in future. At the very minimum the Bank
should guarantee that in future it will not fund, either directly or
indirectly, SSP nor any other scheme connected with the Narmada
Valley Development Project.
Patrick McCully