MP, Guj pleads for speedy completion of SSD proj

New Delhi, Apr 25: Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat today submitted before the Supreme Court that they were opposed to the newly constituted three-member committee by the Centre to oversee the relief and rehabilitation schemes of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

Filing their replies on a petition by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) they stated that no separate authority was required, as an already well-laid mechanism was in place for overseeing the implementation of the directives given by the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) and the Supreme Court in this regard.

Madhya Pradesh informed the apex court that NBA supporters led by Ms Medha Patkar, instead of promoting the cause of the displaced families, ''are creating all kinds of hurdles in their rehabilitation.'' Madhya Pradesh, where the problem of rehabilitation of displaced families is most acute, also pleaded that out of 3,879 project-affected families, special rehabilitation package has already been given to 1043 familes.

Gujarat, in its reply, has said the project is already running two years behind schedule and any further delay would mean severe loss to the nation.

The most important benefit, according to Gujarat after raising the height of the dam from 110.64 metres to 121.92 metres was that the drinking water supply could be made avaialable to an additional 2000 villages. At present, the drinking water is being supplied to 2044 villages and 57 cities while after raising the height of the dam to 121.92 metres the drinking water would be available to 4000 villages and 57 cities/urban centres.

Regarding the rehabilitation of displaced persons, Gujarat claimed that agricultural land measuring 286983.58 hectares in developed rehabilitation and resettlement sites (R&R) and 4801 plots for house sites are also available for allotment to any additional project-affected families who would like to resettle in the state.

Over and above the residential plots for 410 core houses are available in rehabilitation and resettlement sites (R&R) wherein, project affected families from Madhya Pradesh have already been resettled. Temporary shelters will be erected within a period of three weeks in case, any such contingency arises.

Gujarat also claimed an action plan is also being prepared in consultation with the state government and the disaster management authority to meet any eventualities and mitigate the inconvenience during the coming monsoon. If the dam is not raised to 121.92 metres height there would be loss in storage of water of about 157 crore cubic metres which would mean loss in irrigation facility to 3.5 lakh hectares of land of which loss of benefit to Gujarat would be 3 lakh hectares and that to Rajasthan would be 0.5 lakh hectares, it was submitted.

Gujarat has also claimed that enhanced supply of drinking water shall benefit drought affected areas mostly of Saurashtra and Kutch.

So according to the state of Gujarat any delay in the construction work would mean loss of drinking water benefit to about 2000 villages.

Both the states have filed their response as per the Supreme Court directions to file their reply within a week.

The NBA, on the other hand, has sought to stop the construction works till the rehabilitation work is complete. Accoring to NBA's petition, thousands of families has been brought within submergence zones due to the increase in the height of the dam and the development cannot be allowed to take place at the cost of tribals and farmers who have been uprooted from Narmada valley.

The Narmama Bachao Andolan, launched in 1985, has not been able to seek any major relief for the displaced families even after 21 years of the agitation. Moreover, a PIL is also pending in the Supreme Court seeking prosection of NBA leader Medha Patkar and her associates Rahul Bannerjee for disrutping the work of rehabilitation of the project affected families.

The petitioner in PIL has alleged on the basis of vigilance inquiries, by the state of Madhya Pradesh that NBA is being funded by multinationals mainly based in UK and USA.

The controversy took a U-turn with Bollywood star Amir Khan also jumping into the fray in suppot of NBA.

The matter is to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court on May 1, 2006 and the Supreme Court has already warned that if relief and rehabilitation measures for project affected families are found inadequate it would be constrained to stop the ongoing construction work of Sardar Sarovar dam project.

The height of the dam is finally to be raised upto 136 metres.

UNI