Get surveys right, NBA tells states

By Our Special Correspondent
Vadodara, Aug. 21


The Narmada Bachao Andolan has urged the various state governments to stall all work related to the Sardar Sarovar Project dam on the grounds of what it claims as wrong surveys of the areas that are to go under submergence.

In a statement here on Monday, M.K. Sukumar and Joe Athialy of the NBA claimed that the surveys of levels in the SSP could be off by as much as three metres. Keeping a study carried out by Dr Ravi Kuchimanchi and his team as the base, the NBA activists have claimed that contrary to the claims of the Madhya Pradesh government that elevation of the lowest house is 101.5 m there, but in fact the house is only at 98.4 m. They say, the house in Jalsindhi is of one loharia.

The activists said that when Narmada River rose to 98.8 m on September 2 last year, people were standing in knee-deep water in their house. If the level is 101.5 m, then water should not have entered the houses, they added.

The NBA has alleged that certain levels marked in Hapeshwar in Gujarat are also wrong. According to them, going by the wrong measurements, hundreds of families who have not found their names as Project Affected Persons will be affected in the monsoon. They further said that for the PAPs, every centimetre of land counts, as calculations that are made, those who lose less than 25 per cent land under submergence, they are not entitled for land for land.

Reiterating the request to stall project related work, the NBA has further stated that unless a proper survey is carried out in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it would not be possible to assess the impacts of the project.

The activists have also said that steps should be taken immediately to ensure that basic surveys are corrected and the impacts rightly assessed before furthering the project.