'Do A 'Full Monty'...'

April 13, 2006.

To:
Dr. Manmohan Singh
The Honorable Prime Minister
Government of India

Your Excellency:

Your decision yesterday to order a review of the Narmada Control Authority's(NCA) March 8th decision to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, albeitquite late, is a step in the right direction to respond to the concerns of theNarmada Bachao Andolan. However it must very soon be backed up by concreteaction to prevent a catastrophe from unfolding.

As the Prime Minister, you also need to immediately step in and order acessation of all ongoing construction activity on the dam to raise its height.

Based on your wishes late last week a three minister team consisting of theMinister of Water Resources, Prof. Soz, the Minister of Social Justice Smt.Meira Kumar and the Minister of State in the PMO Shri. Prithviraj Chavan,visited the Narmada valley for 1-day to review the status of rehabilitation.

I hope that the 3 minister group has reported the serious violations theNarmada Bachao Andolan has been raising for the past several years. Suchviolations have also been reported by several times by eminent persons in Indiawho have observed the problems during their visits, by respected internationalgroups such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, and Indian civil societygroups such as the Indian People's Tribunal.

I hope that the 3 minister group told you about how the residents of thesubmergence villages and resettlement sites reacted when they saw thatgovernment has been shamed into sending a high-level delegation for the firsttime into the hell that has been created for them by it.

I hope that the 3 minister group told you about the stories of rampantcorruption and red-faced NVDA officials they observed when people where openlyaccusing the NVDA on their face of having taken monies for receiving the paltry(and illegal) cash compensation that some of them are being given before beingdriven out of their homes.

I hope the 3 minister group told you about the Madhya Pradesh GrievanceRedressal Authority (Justice Sohoni) who has not functioned because as hecomplained there is non-delivery of any facilities and resources to him by thegovernment. This means that the state where the largest number of projectaffected families reside, and which is committing the biggest violations inresettlement and rehabilitation through (illegal) ex-parte allottments,(illegal) cash compensation etc have no effective grievance redressal mechanism.

I hope that the sampling of information they gave you presented the magnitudeof the violations being committed ... because they stayed at best for a fewhours, changed their original schedule of 2 days to 1 day and visited a fewresettlement sites that the MP government thought would put their best face onthe status of rehabilitation. Neither did they visit the interior submergencevillages in MP where the most devastation by the dam is occurring, nor did theyvisit any of the villages in Maharashtra and Gujarat where several problems havealso been reported.

I say, "I hope" because the report of the ministers is hidden frompublic view and independent scrutiny. In the eyes of those marginalized, in theeyes of the conscientious public and for those who have visited the valley andwitnessed the destruction that is unfolding, the lack of lawful rehabilitationcan be seen bared naked. However, it is clear that the state governmentsresponsible for this state of affairs have no shame. And maybe ... perhaps maybe... your government is trying to put a fig-leaf on it with the announcement ofthe review meeting on April 15th.

Rather than putting on a fig-leaf, I would recommend that your governmentcome forward and make the report of the ministers' visit public. Do a "FullMonty" on the status of Narmada rehabilitation. Also Mr. Prime Minister youshould accept the illegality of the NCA decision and order an immediate halt tothe Sardar Sarovar dam construction. Further your government should join the NBAin representing to the Supreme Court the fact that rehabilitation is not incompliance with the orders of the court and the NWDTA award. This would perhapssave your government from contempt of the law and the Supreme Court orders inthe matter and lay the falsehoods and contempt of the Court squarely at the doorof the state governments that were party to the illegal decision of the NCA.

In the RCNCA meeting as the Chairperson of the meeting Prof. Soz should alsoadvice the concerned Chief Ministers to withdraw their false ATRs onrehabilitation that were submitted to the NCA and enabled the dam height to goup.

A reversal of the NCA decision and stoppage of further construction on thedam is important to enable Medha Patkar, Jamsingh Nargave and BhagwatibaiPatidar to break their indefinite fast that is into its 16th day.

A reversal of the NCA decision and stoppage of dam work is the only ethical,moral and legal option for your government to prevent the matter from invitingthe scrutiny and potential wrath of the Supreme Court for the contempt of itsorders. It is also the only option for you to prevent the wrath of the poor andmarginalized from visiting your government which was elevated into power withtheir votes.

Sincerely,
Aniruddha S. Vaidya

Aniruddha S Vaidya, PhD is a Director of the Association for India'sDevelopment (AID), a US based non-profit organization. The opinions expressed inthe letter are his alone and not necessarily those of the AID.