[This report is based on the inputs from media reports and Dr Arvind Kumar’s talks on All India Radio on 14 June 2014-]
The recent decision by the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) to allow the Gujarat government to raise by about 17 metres the height of Sardar Sarovar dam has met with mixed reactions. While welcoming the decision, the Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel confirmed on the Twitter: “Heartfelt gratitude from the people of Gujarat to Hon. PM Narendra Modi, The decision pending has come so swiftly. Achchhe din aa gaye hain!!”
The official viewpoint looks at the proposed decision as a boon to Gujarat, which regularly faces water crisis because of deficient or sparse rainfall in terms of the benefits accruing in form of augmentation in electricity generation and availability of additional water for irrigation and drinking purposes. However, the activists contend that raising the dam’s height will displace an additional 2.5 lakh people. Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) led by social activist Medha Patkar and the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) bitterly criticized the move.
The NCA approval will allow the dam height to be raised from the present 121.92 metres to 138.72 metres and the work is expected to be taken up after the monsoon. And the additional benefit that increase in height can provide is about 10-20 per cent additional power generation, in which Gujarat’s share is only 16 per cent: 57 per cent share goes to Madhya Pradesh and 27 per cent share goes to Maharashtra, That is a welcome decision because power woes is a huge issue as we are seeing in Uttar Pradesh and in Delhi itself. It is also claimed that it will provide irrigation water to 1.8 million hectares in Gujarat and benefit one million farmers. It will provide drinking water to 9,633 villages and 131 towns.
According to Dr Arvind Kumar, President of India Water Foundation, when we talk of sustainable environment and development to provide basic amenities to billions of people we have to take calculated risks, while adopting preemptive measures to look after the interests of the affected segments of the society on equitable basis. Dr Kumar further avers that in 2012 he had given a suggestion to the Delhi Government to bear a part of the cost of the Renuka dam project on a tributary of the Yamuna if the capital wanted to solve its drinking water problem. While alluding to the proposed increase in the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam, Dr Kumar opines that undoubtedly the proposed move would displace villagers; but if people are rehabilitated and compensated properly’ then it could be an insignificant hurdle in way of development.
In the opinion of Dr Kumar, the Gujarat government should first of all build the necessary canal distribution system with branch canals, distribution canals, minor, sub-minor and field canals to fields in Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat so that rich dividends can be reaped from the Narmada dam and to facilitate proper usage of the allocated water. He also cautions that while undertaking subsequent height increase of dams, the relief and rehabilitation measures must commence side by side for the displaced villagers on priority basis.
Simultaneously, it is the bounden duty of the governments of the beneficiary states to convince the ‘to-be-affected villagers’ that the authorities are aware of the implications that may arise while undertaking the proposed measure and it is well prepared to deal with such eventualities and the people need not worry about and misled by the wrong propaganda.’
It is equally important to put adequate mechanism in place to provide proper rehabilitation for tribal families as well as other villagers who may be replaced with the implementation of the decision of increasing height of the Dam, with adequate land, housing, irrigation and other facilities. It is also essential to provide full-fledged health facilities and rationing with regularity and boat service in every village, because people have faced death or destruction without these in the past.
While working on the maxim of “benefits for the majority not at the expense of loss to minority; but equitable sharing of benefits and loss for all”, all development plans can yield desired results for the benefit of the all segments of the society. In the present case of Sardar Sarovar Dam, there is a need for the capacity building of the people, with the help of Civil society organizations (CSOs), inhabiting the to-be-affected areas to convince them about the large number of benefits accruing to them and the rest of the majority population from the proposed plan and the loss they would suffer in terms of loss of land, crops, dwelling units etc., would be properly compensated equitably and their grievances, if any, would be redressed.
If development plans, especially those of erecting new dams or increasing the existing height of the dams, are undertaken by thoroughly reviewing pros and cons of such contemplated moves, along with putting in place adequate mechanism to redress the grievances of the affected people, then such moves can prove a boon and neglect of one or some related aspects can turn the same into a bane.
