Written by: Elisa Veritti
Water-grab dams put Narmada Valley in danger.
The Narmada Valley Development Plan (NVDP) proposes the construction of 30 big dams, 135 medium dams and 3000 smaller dams on the river Narmada. Projects are currently underway on the river intended to provide water and power to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and primarily, Gujarat .The Sardar Sarovar Dam is the largest dam and part of the Narmada Valley Project. Over the last 30 years, the construction has been well covered by the media due to the controversy over his enormous social, cultural and environmental costs and impacts. The construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam began in the mid-1980s and was motivated by the assumption that it would provide water to around forty million people, irrigation, and electricity to people in the region. The people who were going to be affected by the construction weren't consulted and weren't asked for a feedback on the assessment that had taken place.The World Bank which originally funded the project, was forced to pull out in 1994 under public pressure. In the following years, India’s Supreme Court has at several occasions ruled that dam construction may only continue after all affected people have been properly compensated and rehabilitated. Nevertheless State government had not followed the Supreme Court order on resettling and rehabilitating all project-affected people. Local citizens formed the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement), a grass root coalition which has been opposing the projects and political agenda of the Governments of the three Indian States of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The movement has registred some successes for instance in Kalgat, village farmers have got land from the Madhya Pradesh government in the first land-for-land rehabilitation of its size in the State. However they are the exception as most people have been forced into displaced to resettlement sites but have not received new land, water or other entitlements. Others have not even been recognized as being affected because their land rights were never formalized.Thousands of displaced families have previously been recognized as “displaced” and have not received compensation or rehabilitation benefits.When an entire ecosystem is under threat an entire country is suffering disruption and hundred of thousands of people are being uprooted one cannot remain silent.
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