You ve got a verdict
on october 18, the Supreme Court ( sc ) cleared the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project ( ssp ) dam on the Narmada River. Construction had been stayed in 1994 following a public interest petition by the Narmada Bachao Andolan ( nba ), which the court has now dismissed. The court stated that "construction of the dam will continue as per the award of the tribunal,' implying that it would be built up to its full height of 138 metres as per the award of the tribunal created under section 4 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956. For the time being, the height of the dam, which stands at 88 metres, will be raised to 90 metres as the relief and rehabilitation ( r & r ) sub-group has cleared construction till this height. The Narmada Control Authority ( nca ) will grant permission for subsequent construction, from time to time, after clearances from its sub-group on r & r and sub-group on the environment (see box: The powers that be ). The directive of the court concluded by stating that "every endeavour shall be made to see that the project is completed as expeditiously as possible.'
The verdict came after a 2-1 split in three-member sc bench. Chief Justice A S Anand concurred with the judgement delivered by Justice B N Kirpal, former chief justice of the Gujarat High Court. Justice S P Bharucha, however, was against further construction till the environmental impact assessment of the project is completed. Ruling that the Union government should appoint a committee of experts to complete the task, he judged: "Until environmental clearance to the project is accorded by the committee of experts, further construction work on the dam shall cease.'
There was widespread jubilation in Gujarat. The project has become a major prestige issue for the state which will gain the most from the irrigation water from the dam. The state government declared October 18 as victory day and gave a half-day leave to all its employees. nba activists were visibly upset about the verdict. The group said the verdict was "illogical, dangerous and anti-people,' asking for the president's intervention. On completion, the waters stored in the dam reservoir would displace 245 villages, 193 of which are in Madhya Pradesh ( mp ).
The issue of rehabilitation The verdict read by Justice Kirpal says that "the hardships of oustees from Madhya Pradesh can be mitigated by providing them with alternative lands, sites and compensation. In governance of the State, such decisions have to be taken where there are conflicting interests. When a decision is taken by the government after due consideration and full application of mind, the court is not to sit in appeal over such decision.' In the directives, it is stated that in case of a serious difference in the implementation of the award of the tribunal that cannot be resolved by the review committee, "the committee may refer the same to the prime minister whose decision, in respect thereof, shall be final and binding on all concerned.'
The verdict mentions that the nca , various sub-groups and the grievance redressal machinery had been established under the review committee to look after the grievances of resettled oustees. "There is no reason now to assume that these authorities will not function properly,' says the verdict.
The same judgement mentions how r & r work lags behind in Madhya Pradesh: "It is indeed surprising that even awards in respect of six villages out of 33 villages likely to be affected at 90 metre dam height have not been passed.' mp has about 33,000 of the 41,000-odd affected families. "The state of Madhya Pradesh has been contending that the height of the dam should be lowered to 436 feet (132.9 metres) so that far lesser number of people are dislocated but we find that even with regard to the rehabilitation of the oustees at 436 feet the r & r programme of the state is no where implemented,' the judgement says. "Perhaps the lack of urgency could be because of lack of resources, but then the rehabilitation even in Madhya Pradesh is to be at the expense of Gujarat,' says the judgement. The question of land
"While the cost of relocation has to be borne by Gujarat, the land for resettlement of the oustees has to be granted by mp ,' says Prashant Bhushan, counsel for nba . The mp government has stated in the past that it does not have the land to resettle oustees. The Narmada Valley Development Authority is developing 27 rehabilitation sites in Dhar and Barwani districts for about 4,000 oustees. Its director, S S Uppal, was quoted by the Delhi edition of The Hindustan Times on October 20 as saying: "The government has decided to reduce grazing land from 5 per cent to 2 per cent, the rest will be earmarked for rehabilitation.'
This is bad news for the thousands of poor people dependant on common grazing lands for their livelihoods