‘Narmada villagers not compensated’

By Our Correspondent
Mumbai, April 13


The Indian People’s Tribunal on environment and human rights said the state government has failed to satisfactorily rehabilitate the families of the Sardar Sarovar project on the Narmada river.

The tribunal alleged that the government had also violated every other clause, such as providing benefits like cash compensation, housing material, medical facilities to such persons.

The conclusions were made by the tribunal headed by Mr Rambhushan Mehrotra, a retired judge of the Allahabad high court, in an independent study on the status of rehabilitation of pafs in the state.

According to a copy of the report titled Damned Future, the tribunal said the land available for resettlement was inadequate. According to statistics, out of 4,191 hectares of forest land made available for resettlement, 1,450 hectares were found not fit for cultivation or reserved for gaothans.

Of the remaining 2,741 hectares of land available for resettlement, 2,292 hectares were already allotted. The tribunal felt this left 448 hectares of land, which was inadequate for rehabilitating 627 families, who were displaced over seven years ago. The tribunal said the government had violated its own conditions and not given land to landless persons.