Narmada Bachao Andolan

-         c/o B-13 Shivam Flats, Ellora Park, Baroda 390023, Gujarat. Ph: 0265-2282232

-         62 Gandhi Marg, Badwani 451551, Madhya Pradesh. Ph: 07290-222464

-         Maitri Niwas, Tembewadi, Dhadgaon, dist Nandurbar, Maharashtra. Ph: 02595-220620

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27^th April 2006,

Badwani, M.P.        

To,                                                                                               

Shri. Manmohan Singh,

The Prime Minister of India,

New Delhi.

Respected Shri Manmohan Singhji,

            We have come to know through the newspapers about the new Group/Committee formed by your office, announced while you were on a visit to Germany. While we know that you see this as a new and additional mechanism to review the situation with respect to R& R in Sardar Sarovar affected areas and that is an understandable intention in the context of the ongoing controversy, there are certain indications emerging from the Terms of Reference (ToR) declared for the Committee.

            The first and the foremost, while this process is going to be concluding the attainment of the R&R, it is not only shocking but utterly horrifying for anyone knowing the ground reality that the work is on at the dam site that would finish off the adivasi communities and also flood the thickly populated village communities in Madhya Pradesh during the coming monsoon.

            This means that the irreversible submergence would have occurred (extent depending on the rainfall) by the time the committee concludes anything which may even include the fact that R&R of thousands of families is not completed as per the Tribunal Award.

When the committee is asked to suggest ways and means, a system to ensure completion of rehabilitation upto July 2006, your office certainly is aware of the fact that the same is not done till date. We would still expect you to use your authority as per the Supreme Court’s judgment of 2000 and suspend the work till rehabilitation is completed. That rehabilitation has not been completed is also the finding of the Group of Ministers directed by you to visit the Narmada Valley and asses rehabilitation.

It is therefore not at all beyond your knowledge that the NWDTA’s stipulation that land and house plots should be allocated to every PAF at least one year before submergence and his/her land and property should be vacated at least 6 months before submergence which stands violated. Any ToR, which approves, directly or indirectly, this violation is, you will accept, problematic and suggests a major flaw in the whole exercise that we suppose is meant for you to know if there is any illegality or legality involved in Rehabilitation and dam construction with its related impacts.

This committee without suspension of suspension of dam construction, therefore, may not be a solution to the very basic problem we have raised but prove to be only post mortem is bringing post facto realisation when serious injustice would have already occurred.

It is in this context that we would request you to urgently review the ToR of the committee.

It is also unfortunate that the members of the committee were not selected in consultation with us as the organisation of the project affected people when any resolution of conflict best occurs when both the parties are involved in deciding about a mechanism of conflict resolution. We would suggest that 3 nominees of NBA may be added to the members appointed by the officials to make this a democratic process. This is especially necessary since PMO’s view, as per the affidavit of the Additional Solicitor General, is not either on the side of the PAF’s nor neutral and there is a clear dispute between PMO and people’s view which too the committee may have to look into. Representation of both the above as parties, therefore, would prove to be beneficial and serving the cause.

Last but not the least, it is beyond doubt that any such exercise would be really transparent, participatory and accountable to the people who are raising such serious issues. For this, the modus operandi of the committee should have been made known and included in the PMO’s directive and it should still be done.

We hope you would apply your own unbiased mind to this with utmost urgency and take the right decision and inform us about the same.

Awaiting a reply,

Sincerely,

Medha Patkar                                      Ashish Mandloi                  Clifton D’ Rozario