various implications of narmada river dam
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The Narmada Valley Project (NVP) is made up of plans for 30 major, 136 medium and 3,000 minor dams in India. In Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in the state of Gujarat and the Narmada Sagar Project (NSP) in the state of Madhya Pradesh are, at present, the NVP's major constituents. Estimates show that the cost of the whole project would be around US $19 billion over the next 25 years. The present estimate for the NSP and the SSP is US $3 billion and $9 billion, respectively.
Similarly, the Environment Planning and Coordination Organization (EPCO), in Bhopal, carried out a study to assess the environmental impact of the NSP. This study is an almost worthless exercise; it is based on secondary data, which were at times found to be contradictory. Such a report can hardly be passed off as legitimate environmental research.
Other studies, conducted by Consulting Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd., in New Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Sciences, in Bangalore, can only be considered a piecemeal approach to the whole project, because they only examine one or two dams.
Submerging Forests and Agricultural Land
The Sardar Sarovar Project will submerge about 10,000 ha of forest land. The case of the Narmada Sagar Project is even worse: it will submerge 40,332 ha of forest land.
The forests to be submerged are basically teak, with excellent strands of bamboo and other woods. The only pure stand of anjun left in India is located in the Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh. Many of these species no longer naturally regenerate.
Although the Madhya Pradesh state policy guarantees that "for all forest areas submerged in the project, an equal area will be taken up under compensatory forestry," the same document also states that big chunks of land are not available in the districts close to the submergence area. The question then is: Where is all the land for afforestation going to come from?
An amount of US $238,000 has been allocated for the afforestation in Madhya Pradesh. A conservative estimate would allocate US $1,150 for replanting trees on one hectare of land, meaning that US $238,000 can be used to replant a mere 206 ha.
These projects will also flood a large amount of agricultural and grazing land. Most of the agricultural land, situated close to the river Narmada, is highly fertile and produces fine yields of wheat, jowar (barley) and cotton. The official document for the NSP says, "big chunks of cultivable land are not available in Khandwa, Khargone, Dhar, Jhabua, Dewas Hoshangabad and other districts...In these circumstances the only course left is to allot the affected families small bits of government land available in the nearby districts of the submergence area." This policy would lead to serious sociocultural disruption in the life of the area's residents. A report carried out by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), in New Delhi, mentions that adequate areas in every district would be available for the residents. However, the project authorities have made no serious attempt to find cultivable land for the residents.
Loss of Wildlife
The project report of the NSP states, "the impact of the project on the wildlife shall be nil. Since wildlife has got natural characteristics of shifting to nearby jungles wherever it is felt unsuitable to them." In other words, the wildlife will relocate itself. Similarly, the policy document prepared by the government of Madhya Pradesh says, "wildlife in submerged forests will be guided to adjacent localities. Protection of the wildlife will be the responsibility of the forest departments
Displacement and Rehabilitation
Both these projects will displace nearly 200,000 people from their homes. Officials sources state that, in the case of the SSP, 182 villages in Madhya Pradesh, 36 in Maharashtra and 19 in Gujarat will be under water, and the NSP will submerge an additional 254 villages in Madhya Pradesh. These figures, however, are incorrect, because they only include revenue villages, with no mention of forest villages. A recent field report by Multiple Action Research Group (MARG), a nongovernmental organization in New Delhi, mentions six forest villages of Tehsil Barwani (Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh) that will go under Sardar Sarovar's waters. Similarly, no attempt has been made to list those villages that will fall victim to the backwater effect.
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