From patrick@irn.org Tue Oct 1 18:48:28 1996 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id SAA01248 for ; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 18:47:55 -0500 Received: from igc7.igc.org (igc7.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.35]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id RAA25208 for ; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 17:39:32 -0500 Received: from igc3.igc.apc.org (igc3.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.33]) by igc7.igc.org (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id NAA18398; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [198.94.3.47] (patrick@ppp6-47.igc.org [198.94.3.47]) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.7.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id NAA17494; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:49:26 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199610012049.NAA17494@igc3.igc.apc.org> X-Sender: patrick@pop.igc.apc.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:49:44 -0700 To: pchatterjee@igc.org (Pratap Chatterjee), akothari@unv.ernet.in, G.Appa@lse.ac.uk, anandp@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in, L.Mehta@sussex.ac.uk, bittu@ecologist.ilbom.ernet.in, kamal@imsc.ernet.in, educserv@sojourn.com, fv016@cleveland.freenet.edu, narmada@cs.wisc.edu, Ashvinshah@aol.com, budaraju@luther.che.wisc.edu, srrajan@violet.berkeley.edu (Ravi Rajan), jvaidya@netcom.com, alau@sirius.com, anitapd@aol.com, mdharmaw@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca, barot@violet.berkeley.edu, sudayagi@nature.berkeley.edu, jagdish@igc.org, twn@unv.ernet.in, AniD@aol.com, himanshu%csedel@cse.unv.ernet.in, rrn@rrnpc.mos.com.np (Arjun Karki), ectadem@hk.net (Ed Tadem), e-law-sl@ef.is.lk (Ravi Alagama), energy@prayas.ernet.in (Girish Sant), kazimi@astral.magic.ca (Ali Kazimi), smitu@wws.Princeton.EDU From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully) Subject: SSP Update - 29 Sept Cc: gef@igc.org Sender: patrick@igc.org Date: 29 September, 1996 From: Shripad Dharmadhikary, NBA, Baroda SSP Update Supreme Court: The Government of India, in the last hearing (Sept. 12) made a vehement plea to allow construction on the dam to resume, and gave the so called "agreement" between the states as the justification for this. However, the Supreme Court asked them to put down all their justifications in the form of an affidavit and allow the Andolan to reply, after which they would fix a date for hearing the case, including the plea for construction. However, even after filing of the affidavits by the Government and NBA, no date for the next hearing has yet been set. More interesting is the fact that while the Government of India filed an affidavit swearing an oath that an agreement had been reached by all the four states, Government of Madhya Pradesh filed an affidavit swearing that no such agreement was reached. It gave its own version of the agreement - which Gujarat vehemently disagrees with. Madhya Pradesh also is now strongly proposing the lowering of the height of Sardar Sarovar to 384 feet and not just 436 ft. Meanwhile, the R&R Sub-Group of the inter-state Narmada Control Authority has recommended in its last meeting of June 1996 that looking at the state of the rehabilitation, no further construction on the dam can be allowed at this stage. Government of Gujarat Dismissed: President's rule has been imposed in Gujarat and the BJP Government has been dismissed. This happened last week in the wake of several month-long simmering political differences and factional infighting and finally a split in the state BJP. With this, has come to an end one of the most human rights abusive governments ever in Gujarat. Extensive waterlogging due to the partially dug Narmada canals has been playing havoc with the lives of thousands of people. While water has not yet started flowing in the canals - nowhere near it - the canals have destroyed natural drainage patterns, causing extensive waterlogging, flooding houses and fields, and making it impossible for thousands of families to stay in their villages or cultivate their land. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Patrick McCully, Campaigns Director, International Rivers Network 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008 =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= From patrick@irn.org Tue Oct 1 18:48:38 1996 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id SAA01278 for ; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 18:48:13 -0500 Received: from igc7.igc.org (igc7.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.35]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id RAA25217 for ; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 17:40:06 -0500 Received: from igc3.igc.apc.org (igc3.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.33]) by igc7.igc.org (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id NAA18397; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [198.94.3.47] (patrick@ppp6-47.igc.org [198.94.3.47]) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.7.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id NAA17415; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:47:33 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199610012047.NAA17415@igc3.igc.apc.org> X-Sender: patrick@pop.igc.apc.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:48:15 -0700 To: pchatterjee@igc.org (Pratap Chatterjee), akothari@unv.ernet.in, G.Appa@lse.ac.uk, anandp@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in, L.Mehta@sussex.ac.uk, bittu@ecologist.ilbom.ernet.in, kamal@imsc.ernet.in, educserv@sojourn.com, fv016@cleveland.freenet.edu, narmada@cs.wisc.edu, Ashvinshah@aol.com, budaraju@luther.che.wisc.edu, srrajan@violet.berkeley.edu (Ravi Rajan), jvaidya@netcom.com, alau@sirius.com, anitapd@aol.com, mdharmaw@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca, barot@violet.berkeley.edu, sudayagi@nature.berkeley.edu, jagdish@igc.org, twn@unv.ernet.in, AniD@aol.com, himanshu%csedel@cse.unv.ernet.in, rrn@rrnpc.mos.com.np (Arjun Karki), ectadem@hk.net (Ed Tadem), e-law-sl@ef.is.lk (Ravi Alagama), energy@prayas.ernet.in (Girish Sant), kazimi@astral.magic.ca (Ali Kazimi), smitu@wws.Princeton.EDU From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully) Subject: Bargi Dam Satayagrah Update Sender: patrick@igc.org Date: 9 September, 1996 From: Shripad Dharmadhikary, NBA, Baroda Bargi Update ** ARRESTED BARGI DAM OUSTEES RELEASED UNCONDITIONALLY ** ** JABALPUR HIGH COURT DECLARES MEDHA PATKAR'S ARREST AS ILLEGAL DETENTION, ORDERS IMMEDIATE RELEASE ** ** M.P. GOVERNMENT ACCEPTS DEMAND OF OUSTEES TO MAINTAIN BARGI RESERVOIR AT 418 METRES AFTER 15 DEC. ** The satyagraha of the Bargi Dam oustees came to an end yesterday as the Government of Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) accepted all of their demands. The protest has been going on since July 1996 in Bijasen village on the banks of the Bargi Reservoir on the Narmada River about 70 kms. from Jabalpur. The M.P. Government agreed to the oustees' demands after day-long discussions between senior officials of M.P. (including the Chief Secretary), officials of the Narmada Valley Development Authority, and Ms Patkar and other activists of the NBA and the Bargi Bandh Visthapit Aur Prabhavit Sangh (Bargi Dam Oustees Organization - a sister organisation of the NBA) - even as the activists were still under arrest. The Government of M.P. ordered the unconditional release of all the agitationists and the activists who had been arrested in batches starting from 18 August 1996 under Indian Penal Code Section 151. The criminal cases against the 13 main activists will also be withdrawn. The Government of M.P. also agreed to the main demand of the satyagrahis that the reservoir should not be filled above the level of 418 m (Full Reservoir Level is 422 m) until the oustees are fully and properly resettled. The level would now be brought down to 418 m from Dec. 15, 1996. The oustees have made this demand so that they can cultivate the roughly 5000 ha of land that would be left unsubmerged if the level was restricted to 418 m instead of the 422 m. This will entail some loss in power generation, but the oustees were demanding this to be done only untill resettlement is complete. Further, the increased production from the 5000 ha of land balances the loss in power generation. Shortly before this, on 30 Aug., the Jabalpur High Court declared that the arrest of Medha Patkar on 20 August 1996 from Bijasen village amounted to illegal detention and ordered her immediate release. The High Court had been moved by the NBA after Ms. Patkar's arrest. She and the other activists had been offered to be freed on bail, but they had refused this. They had declared that they had not committed any crime, so they should be released unconditionally. Ms. Patkar was released late last night, and the others are expected to be released late today as the formalities get completed. The Government of M.P. has also agreed to institute an independent inquiry in to the brutal lathi charge on 18 August on the satyagrahis. The details of the process of the resettlement of the oustees will be discussed on 2 Sept. 96 in a meeting of the NBA, Bargi Bandh Visthapit Aur Prabhavit Sangh, and the officials. In view of all this, the satyagraha has been suspended for one year. Background The Bargi dam, 40 kms from Jabalpur, was the first large dam to be constructed on the Narmada river. The work on the dam was stated in 1972 and the dam filling started in 1987, the filing being complete by 1990. There was no policy or plan for the resettlement of the oustees from 162 villages which were displaced by the dam. Most had no place to go, and just settled on the rim of the reservoir, having lost all their land, houses and property. Though they settled here, they had no means of livelihood, nor even the rights on the lands on which their houses were. The Government had not even provided them with any basic amenities. Most were living in wretched conditions. In 1991, these oustees started to get organized under the name of Bargi Bandh Visthapit Aur Prabhavit Sangh, a sister organization of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, under the guidance and inspiration of Medha Patkar and Dr. B.D. Sharma. Of course, since the dam had already been constructed before the organisation was formed, the issue of total opposition to the dam did not exist, but the organisation started fighting for the resettlement of the affected people. A very intense struggle was launched. Finally in 1994, after three years of struggle, Chief Minister Shri Digvijay Singh agreed in a meeting with the NBA and BBVPS that the resettlement had not been done, and constituted a joint committee of officials, and representatives of NBA and BBVPS and independent experts to do the planning for the resettlement. This Ayojan Samiti was Chaired by Dr. B.D. Sharma. However, even after two years, the process left the oustees and their organizations frustrated as the decisions of the Ayojan Samiti were not implemented and there was no progress in the resettlement. Ultimately, in April 1996, they declared that if the Government cannot resettle the oustees, then it should restrict the filling in the reservoir only up to 418 m so as to leave about 5000 ha of land out of submergence, which they could cultivate and survive. This demand, they made clear, was only till the proper resettlement took place. In support of this demand, the NBA and BBVPS started a satyagraha by building a hut on the banks of the reservoir at 418 m level in Bijasen village. They declared that they would stay there and not allow the level to be raised beyond this. If the Government insisted in filling the water above this, they would be ready to drown. The Government did insist on filling the reservoir, and on 17 August water started rising and the satyagrahis were arrested in a brutal police action where even children were injured. Immediately, another batch took their place at satyagraha. They too were arrested. This went on till the last batch was sitting and the water rose submerging them chest high till the police arrested them, and then cordoned off the area. These series of arrests lasted a week from 18 August and over 150 people were arrested. Ms Patkar was arrested on 20 August. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Patrick McCully, Campaigns Director, International Rivers Network 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008 =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=