India: Narmada Update

Narmada Bacho Andolan [NBA= Save the Narmada Movement]

Narmada Bacho Andolan [NBA= Save the Narmada Movement]

> 1. Police Break Houses in Chimalkhedi village!
>
> 2. Narmada situation update and appeal
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1. Wed, 6 Aug 2003 05:20:30 -0700 (PDT)
Police Break Houses in Chimalkhedi village!

Proof available of people and families still not rehabilitated at 100
metres height of Sardar Sarovar/ Adivasis on fast- First Phase of Satyagraha Begins

> > Giving false claims that all people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam
> > had been rehabilitated, the Gujarat government, along with the governments
> of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra gave the clearance to raise the dam height
> > to 100 metres + 3 metres (humps), and by now this construction has been
> > completed. But just this month the submergence hit the Valley,
> inundating
> > homes and fields of several families, and this has exposed the falseness
> > of the governments. Hence, when the waters rose in the third Maharashtra
> > village from the dam site, Chimalkhedi, police went in with full force and
> > arrested 74 people, including the women and children of the village. Before they
> > were released from jail and returned to their village, the government took some
> > laborers from Gujarat and broke 20 houses in Chimalkhedi. After
> illegally pushing the dam height ahead, the government now wants to empty out the
> > village using brute force, and this is absolute injustice. The Andolan
> > greatly condemns this action, and at the same time, announces that the
> > Satyagraha now begins in Chimalkhedi today. The adivasi brothers and
> > sisters of Chimalkhedi return to their village today to face the next tough
> stage of struggle.

> > The Maharashtra Government- appointed Task Force reveals that at 100
> > metres
> > height, the number of families who are affected but not yet resettled
> and
> > are
> > in their original village, even to this day, is more than 1500. About 50
> > of
> > these families are in Chimalkhedi, of which some are declared (their
> names
> > are in the government?s list) while others are still undeclared (names
> not in the government?s list), but according to the Maharashtra Cabinet and
> other documents, they all need to be rehabilitated fairly. According to the
> > Narmada Tribunal Award and also the Supreme Court verdict, people must be
> > rehabilitated six months before impending submergence. But through this
> > illegal submergence, the government hopes that people will get scared and
> > flee. The people of Chimalkhedi remained strong even when a sea-like
> > submergence marooned them; they went to the Tehsil office at Akkalkuwa
> > where they held a program. They were arrested, and beaten during the arrest.
> > Now, their houses have been demolished. All of this very clearly shows the
> > government?s cowardice. If the government claims that all people
> affected at 100 metres height of Sardar Sarovar Project are rehabilitated, then why
> > are they scared when houses get submerged and people are still living there?
> > How and why do they turn a blind eye to the rights to land and rights to
> life as the adivasi displaced people claim? Demanding the answers to these
> > questions, the Andolan has now moved to its next phase. From the warning, now the
> > Satyagraha will begin from today.
> >
> > In June, the Maharashtra government accepted all demands, but are yet to
> > bring out an official Government Resolution (GR) to that effect. In this
> > situation, the adivasis have not been able to bear the illegal
> submergence brought upon them, and have decided to sit on fast themselves. The relay
> > fast has begun in Nimgavan in Akrani tehsil (Nandurbar district) and
> > Chimalkhedi in Akkalkuwa tehsil (Nandurbar district). Today in Chimalkhedi, the fast
> > was begun by Bijya Juya and Savita Vasave for 24 hours. Like the Andolan
> > announced in its August 2nd Nandurbar dharna, if by the next submergence
> > the government doesn?t prepare the necessary GRA and resolve the
> resettlement conflict, then the Andolan will take the next step of the Satyagraha.
> The upcoming submergence will submerge even more homes and fields than the
> > last one. Before deciding its next step, the Andolan gives another warning to
> > the government that it use empathy not brute force, and treat adivasis with
> > respect and understand their legal responsibility. They should join
> > together with the people fighting for fair development. All the compassionate,
> > empathetic citizens of this country should join the struggle with us.
> >
> > Kirsingh Padvi Kevalsingh Vasave Chetan Salve Medha Patkar
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 2. Narmada situation update and appeal
>
>
> Wed, 6 Aug 2003 05:14:48 -0700 (PDT)
>
> Dear friends
>
> The situation in the Narmada Valley continues to be grave. The rising
> waters
> engulfed farms, with what looked like a bumper crop, and not less than 60
> houses?but that was just the first flood of July. What is to follow in the
> months of ?Rakhya? and ?Kelya? is known to the adivasis who continue to
> give a brave fight. In Nimgavan (Maharashtra), water entered 28 houses,
> including the home of senior NBA activist Keshav bhau Vasave. In Jalsindhi (Madhya
> Pradesh), Bawa bhai?s decades-old house was submerged, along with
> Luhariya?s second home, built after his home submerged last year. Those in
> Chimalkhedi (Maharashtra), who stayed put even after the sea-like water surrounded the
> small 20-household hamlet, were arrested after hours of persuasion and
> pressures from the officials failed. They were put in Dhuliya jail, and
> were released yesterday. They have returned to the village again- to face the
> next flood, more furious, more devastating and challenging. With such a
> struggle on, the world should be watching, yet it?s not.
>
> The villages in the Vindhyas and Satpuras in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
> and a few in Gujarat, are deep in the interior, spread over many kilometres in
> the dense green forests. Even with commitment and perseverance, our
> supporters and even monitors find it difficult to reach there, while the
> police reach them riding the huge flood on their huge barges.
>
> Literally caught between the sea on one side and a cliff on the other,
> people have to wage this battle this year again. This year again, there is no
> final resolution of the various issues related to land rights, land records-
> including a whopping two-thirds of the Maharashtra families who are
> ?undeclared? and just left out of the official lists. Issues like locating
> adequate, arable agricultural land, and actual rehabilitation still need
> to be carried out. In it only in utter violation of the apex court?s
> judgement and the legally binding policies that villages and people are inundated
> without rehabilitation or even resettlement. This was made possible by the
> farcical sanction of the dam height increase to 100 metres + 3 metres
> humps at a meeting in May, where it was wrongfully claimed that all affected
> people of the three states had been resettled.
>
> A total subversion of the system- local to national, executive to
> judiciary- brings this fate, but strengthens the resolve and the struggle for truth,
> democracy and justice. The Sardar Sarovar is already infested with
> financial non-viability, seismic risks and environmentally disastrous impacts; only
> time will tell us the real story. If we are not just children to wait till
> the darkness inundates us at night to listen to the story, we should know
> the unjust benefit distribution for Kutch, the real needy and an unreliable
> generation of water and power, at an enormous cost- environmental, social
> and economic.
>
> After having given a warning for one month, since the commencement of the
> monsoon, when there was no response even from the Government of
> Maharashtra to bring out an official Government Resolution (GR) based on the peoples?
> demands that was already approved by the state cabinet. So now, Satyagraha
> has begun. Since yesterday, August 5th, two adivasi representatives of the
> communities in each tehsil have taken to relay fast at Nimgavan and
> Chimalkhedi, 50 kilometres apart. Simultaneously, the date of the next
> flood, whenever it may be, has been given to officials as a deadline. If there is
> no official response to resolve the conflict with official written
> communication by then, we will step into the next phase of Satyagraha.
>
> We appeal to all our close and distant supporters and sympathisers to join
> us. Come to the valley, express your solidarity through articles, press
> statements, mass actions, meetings and conferences; mobilising others-
> activists, eminent persons, supporters; raising funds. We appeal to
> individuals and groups of concerned citizens to extend their support to
> the families to be affected whom the callous governments of the three states
> are not compensating, through a modus operandi set up by a young citizens?
> group against unjustifiable, forcible displacement. A separate appeal from them
> will reach you all soon, or else you can approach us for further
> information.
>
> The upcoming actions and programs planned are as follows:
>
> August 7th: In Nimgavan, checking of all the records, with official
> documents including the Task Force to finalize the list of the affected families.
> Officials of three departments and activists in the special Gram Sabha.
>
> August 8th: In Chimalkhedi, checking records as above.
>
> August 9th: Shaheed diwas (Martyr?s Day) to commemorate the adivasis?
> freedom fighters and martyrs including Khajya Naik, Bhima Naik, Tantya Bhil, and
> Rehma Vasave.
>
> August 12th: Raksha Bandhan- A human tie and bond beyond caste, creed,
> religion, gender with an appeal to save life and livelihood.
>
> August 14th: Mass gathering in Bhilgaon, at the site of the micro-hydel
> project, with guests. Overnight drum-beats, cultural meet with
> flag-hoisting at midnight.
>
> August 15th: With the guests reaching Nimgavan, flag hoisting and
> children?s program at Jeevan Shala.
>
> We must strive not to allow the terrorising forces to subdue us, hence
> this ongoing battle, as also the appeal to you. Awaiting your response,
>
> Karuna DW Philip Matthew Keshav Vasave Noorji Padvi Kamala
> Yadav Mohan Patidar Medha Patkar
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