NARMADA UPDATE
January 3, 1994
** NCA SAYS SLUICES SHOULD NOT BE SHUT **
** DAM CONSTRUCTION SUSPENDED?? **
** DAM SAFETY CONTROVERSY **
** POLICE ENTER MANIBELI **
Representatives of the central government environment and
social welfare ministries told the Narmada Control Authority
at a meeting on December 31 that the construction sluices at
the foot of Sardar Sarovar should not be shut. The ministries
said that the dam authorities had violated the environment
and resettlement conditions under the 1979 Tribunal Award,
the 1987 environmental clearance for the dam, and a 1991
Supreme Court order.
Unconfirmed reports say that construction on the wall of
the dam has been halted since 26 or 27 December. Worries over
the safety of the dam structure could halt construction for
as long as the sluices remain open. Once the sluices are shut
they cannot be reopened and water will be permanently
impounded behind the dam for the first time.
The secretary of the environment ministry took a very strong
stand at the NCA meeting, saying that if the Authority did
not accept the recommendation of the NCA Environment Sub-
Group (ESG) against closing the sluices then they might as
well dissolve the Sub-Group. All the responsible agencies
including the environment and welfare ministries have been
threatened with legal action by the NBA if they allow the
sluices to be shut in spite of the admitted violation of
environmental and resettlement conditions. The Ministry of
Environment said at an ESG meeting of December 7 that
conditions were unfulfilled on R&R, catchment area treatment,
command area studies and plans, flora and fauna studies and
health plans. The ministry said that construction should be
halted until the conditions were complied with.
The ministries and the NCA have received letters calling
for the sluices to stay open from all the main political
parties except Congress and the BJP, and from MPs.
The representative of the Government of Madhya Pradesh
(GoMP) told the NCA meeting that the dam should not be built
above 71m if the sluices are shut and 73m if they stay open.
The dam is currently at 69-70m above sea level (asl), 10m
higher than during the 1993 monsoon. Under the latest
construction schedule it would reach 80.5m by June 1994. GoMP
did not make any other contributions to the NCA meeting as
the new state government is still deciding its position on
the dam.
The Government of Maharashtra (GoM) said that there should
be no more submergence this year than last year (their
representative did not explain how this could be ensured with
an extra 10m already added to the dam). GoM also said that
they were prepared for permanent submergence up to 59m asl,
the height which the reservoir would reach if the gates were
to be closed, as all families living below 59m had been
resettled (the few houses in the Maharashtra submergence zone
below 59m were forcibly dismantled in June 1993).
At the 7 December ESG meeting GoM said that temporary
submergence was not a problem: they provided tin sheds for
those affected by temporary submergence during the 1993
monsoon and they would do the same in 1994. The environment
ministry officials, however, said there should be no
distinction between temporary and permanent submergence and
that the GoM position was unacceptable. At the NCA meeting on
New Year's Eve the environment and welfare ministry
representatives said that the norms of the Tribunal Award and
the Supreme Court order were violated by this distinction
(one also made by the World Bank in its infamous Next Steps
document).
The Government of Gujarat (GoG) could ignore the NCA
decision or it could try and get it overturned. The Chief
Ministers of the states involved are likely to meet soon to
discuss the situation. The SSP Construction Advisory
Committee will meet on 5 or 6 January.
Numerous Resettlement Estimates
Large numbers of families in Maharashtra who will be
affected by the 1994 monsoon according to the current
construction schedule have not yet been resettled. As the
monsoon starts in June, the Supreme Court's requirement that
families should be fully resettled six months before
submergence has already been violated (the Tribunal Award
says 12 months, the annexes to the World Bank's 'Next Steps'
say both 12 and 6 months). This violation of the Supreme
Court order was pointed out by the environment and welfare
ministries at the NCA meeting.
Official estimates of the numbers to be affected this year
vary widely:
-- the Social Welfare Secretary said in an NCA meeting of
19 November that 649 families in Maharashtra needed to be
resettled before the 1994 monsoon. No families have been
resettled since November.
-- during the violence in Dhule in November, the NBA saw
charts belonging to the Dhule Collector saying that 410
Maharashtra families had to be resettled before the monsoon.
At the same time the Collector told the press that 567
families remained to be shifted.
-- a GoM document submitted to the review committee said
that 1691 families in the state would be affected this year,
926 of them by *permanent pondage*
-- a September submission to the Supreme Court by the NCA
Rehabilitation Sub-Group (RSG) said that 1021 families in
Maharashtra would be affected in 1994 as well as 130 in
Madhya Pradesh and 1900 in Gujarat (many of the Gujarat
families have shifted, although many are still to be given
land and many are suffering problems with inadequate land at
the resettlement sites).
The RSG submission to the Supreme Court also said that
progress on resettlement in Maharashtra was "very slow" and
the situation was "very serious". Only 108 families had
actually shifted to the Maharashtra resettlement site at
Taloda and the resettlement plots for the people to be
shifted this year were not yet prepared. The plots on which
people were living suffered from waterlogging.
Dam Safety at Risk?
GoG have been putting pressure on the NCA by claiming that
the dam's safety could be compromised if the sluices are kept
open. There are two safety concerns. The first is that the
dam foundations could be weakened during the next monsoon by
water overtopping the dam and crashing onto the river bed. To
prevent this the riverbed downstream needs to be protected
with concrete but this cannot be done as long as the sluices
remain open. However it is thought that building a coffer dam
downstream to create an impoundment in front of the dam could
alleviate this problem.
The other problem is that the fast-flowing water in the
sluices could cause "cavitation" -- which would lead to
damage to the walls of the sluices and the structure of the
dam. A GoG engineer told the ESG on December 7 that a "great
risk" was taken in going ahead with construction with the
sluices open last year. The engineer warned that a 5000
million rupee public investment was threatened. "The project
authorities were lucky" that nothing happened the dam last
year, he told the Sub-Group.
While the GoG is very probably exaggerating the safety risk
it still may be sufficient to halt construction. Shripad says
that "while experts have a point, the Govt. of Gujarat is
trying to raise the bogey of safety to get the sluice gates
shut. Independent experts believe that there are ways to get
around the safety problems." The safety claims do however
cast doubt on the sincerity of GoG's promise to the World
Bank that the sluices would not be shut until June 1994
although construction would proceed on schedule.
Manibeli
A force of armed police entered Manibeli on New Year's Day as
part of preparations to build a new road through the village.
The police threatened the villagers, told them that they had
to move to resettlement sites and arrested one man who loudly
protested at their presence.
The after-affects of "temporary submergence" in Manibeli
include a 2m thick band of silt along the riverbanks making
it very difficult for people to get drinking water and for
their cattle to reach the river. There are also large amounts
of stinking dead fish on the river banks. Two labourers on
the dam died in December after getting trapped in the silt.
Numerous cattle belonging to the villagers have also died in
the mud.
More False Charges
The charges of attacking the police which were made against
170 protesters arrested in Dhule in November after a police
lathi charge have now been extended to a further 150 people.
Arrest warrants have been issued for them. The NBA says that
the police are trying to cover up their unprovoked violence
by falsely accusing those injured by the police. The NBA
claims the police got the names of many of the 150 people
from hospital records and press reports.
Still Waiting for the Review?
The report of the review committee could be presented to the
central government within the next few days. It is supposed
to be made public within one month of this. GoG is still
attempting to get the Gujarat High Court to dissolve the
review committee and declare the review process illegal.
Akrani Land Rights
The dispute over the land rights of the tribals in 24
villages in Akrani, Maharashtra, remains a key issue for the
NBA. Although land rights were granted under British rule and
surveys were done by the Indian forest department in 1985,
GoM says that while many people have documents showing their
rights to their land these are not proper ownership deeds
which were never issued in 1985. If the lands were recognized
as belonging to the tribals GoM would have to give 2ha
replacement land to each person instead of the 1ha to which
"encroachers" are eligible. GoM would also have to go through
the entire legal land acquisition process which gives the
person whose land is being acquired the right to protest.
On 31 December the Dhule, Akrani, court made a judgement
which indicated that GoM may have to issue land acquisition
notices, and asked a for judicial inquiry -- underway in
another court in Akrani -- into the question of the land
titles in the area. GoM has told the NCA that it wants to
give ex gratia cash payments to encroachers rather than grant
them more than 1ha of replacement land.
Compiled by Patrick McCully (temporarily at International
Rivers Network) with information from Medha, Shripad and
Sanjay in Baroda.