JOIN USGive it a thought. If you had been displaced in the name of development by a big dam project and had not been rehabilitated even decades after being ousted from the submerged land, you would have probably committed suicide by now. If not, you would have certainly waged a violent struggle to seek justice.
For 50 years, 9,913 families displaced from the Hirakud dam in Orissa have gone from pillar to post seeking compensation. Imagine the human suffering these families have undergone all these years. While they wait for a paltry compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre for the submerged land, many of them are to be displaced again for the sake of industries coming up in the Mahanadi basin.
As a nation, we have forgotten those who made the supreme sacrifice for the sake of our development. We have left them in the cold to await their death.
I fail to understand why the Orissa high court for instance cannot take suo moto the issue of Hirakud dam resettlement?
Why is that none of the successive governments have cared to bring justice for those who sacrificed their livelihoods for the sake of development? Why can’t Orissa government award these oustees with at least Rs 10 lakh per acre as the compensation now? The answer is simple. We have relegated human suffering as the inevitable cost of development. Some people, and invariably they are poor, must pay with their lives for the sake of development of the majority population.
Hirakud dam displacement is not an isolated case. Almost all mega dams in India have left behind a trail of misery and suffering that cannot be put in words. Generations born after they were originally displaced certainly feel as if they are the children of a lesser god. They have lived as environment refugees in their own country, and have grown up seething with anger and hatred. And yet, they continue to struggle peacefully for their getting their legitimate due. Hats off to them.
Even from the Bhakra dam, which Jawaharlal Nehru christened as the temples of modern India, there are still 700 families from Bilaspur district who are awaiting compensation. Similarly, hundreds of Pong dam oustees have still to be paid their dues. Far away in Andhra Pradesh, a large number of displaced communities from the Nagarjunasagar dam on Krishna river are still fighting for compensation. In fact, as social activist Rolly Shivhare found it from an RTI, the Madhya Pradesh government for instance does not even know how many people have to be rehabilitated.
Adivasis’ plight
A few days back I joined Medha Patkar and a few hundred adivasis, farmers, fish workers and potters representing thousands of families affected by the series of 30 large dams that have sprung up on the Narmada river. They were demonstrating outside the Ministry for Environment and Forests in New Delhi drawing attention to their plight. Asserting their right to life and livelihood, the oustees were simply demanding rehabilitation and environmental compensation that has been promised to them by various Tribunals and Court judgements.
Although environment minister Jairam Ramesh did come down to listen to them, what was shocking was the indifference and damming attitude the passerbys exhibited.
Barring a few, not many even cared to stop and inquire as to why these adivasis were staging a dharna. They could hear the slogans but they quietly passed by looking at them in disdain and contempt. The apathy towards the rights of the displaced is primarily the reason why thousands continue to suffer.
For over 25 years, the oustees of Narmada dams have waged a non-violent struggle. While only 10,500 families have been provided with agricultural land after years of struggle, several thousand more still await land based rehabilitation.
A year back, along with Justice (retd) A P Shah and Prof Jaya Sagade, I had submitted a report of a people’s tribunal looking into the issue of massive displacement, rehabilitation, environmental compliance, and overall cost benefits of big dams like Sardar Sarovar, Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar and Jobat on the Narmada river. The report disclosed that nearly 200,000 people displaced from the rising waters of Narmada have waited endlessly for a rehabilitation package.
We were shocked to note that while the Narmada Control Authority and the Narmada Valley Development Authority have stated that there are ‘zero families’ that await rehabilitation, hundreds of families had greeted us in village after village when we visited them.
This was a clear cut violation of the supreme court judgement of Mar 15, 2005, whereby it had reiterated that land based rehabilitation of project affected persons (PAF) along with provisions of house sites with requisite amenities must be completed one year before submergence. The judgement admitted the entitlements of minimum of 2 hectares of cultivable, irrigable and suitable agricultural land to all major sons and unmarried daughters of affected landholder.
At a time when the Centre is in the process of bringing in a rehabilitation and resettlement policy, the foremost effort should be to first settle all pending claims. This must be executed under a time bound programme. Let us accept it, the lack of political will is a reflection of the callous neglect and apathy that the educated and the elite nurse towards the poor.