Digvijay for giving cash compensation to dam oustees

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, NOV. 13. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, has started making moves to have the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal award to be re-opened to allow for cash compensation instead of land to the people who will be displaced by the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat.

Despite the fact that one-time cash compensation tends to be squandered by male beneficiaries and pushes women and children to penury, Mr. Singh wants the award to be altered to amend the clause stipulating land compensation.

Mr. Singh had an informal meeting with the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, here on Sunday to build a consensus on the issue. The leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, Mr. Amarsinh Chaudhary, was also present.

In the past, Mr. Singh could not succeed in getting the four Chief Ministers concerned to agree to limit the height of the dam to minimise displacement of tribals and villagers. Madhya Pradesh will have to rehabilitate the maximum number of oustee families estimated at 33,000. The other States involved in the project are Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The four States have to be in agreement to open the award.

Maintaining that it does not have land to rehabilitate the families to be displaced, Madhya Pradesh wants to pay ``full'' cash compensation to the displaced and has suggested that they buy their own land. The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Sub-Group chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has to take a view on this issue in its next meeting.

Describing suggestion of full cash compensation as ``illegal and violation of the award'', the leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ms. Medha Patkar, told The Hindu that it was a ``shortsighted'' move. ``If there is no land available and if the M.P. Government is finding it difficult to purchase land, where will the village and communities find land? Even if this was possible, why is there reluctance on the part of the State administration to take up this responsibility?''

Ms. Patkar said a rehabilitation policy had emerged and developed along with the Sardar Sarovar Project, particularly drawing from the past experiences that cash compensation was invariably squandered and never used purposefully. ``Curiously, while the Madhya Pradesh Government has proposed such an amendment, it contradicts itself and maintains in the Rehabilitation and Resettlement sub-group's meetings that it has land available for rehabilitation.''

She said the recent developments confirmed the NBA's worst fears that the rehabilitation, as envisaged in such a mega project, would never be possible due to lack of resources and land, of initiative on the part of the Government and due to lack of a strong independent monitoring and implementing agency.

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