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dam-l LS: Arundhati Roy: "A venal, dangerous lie"

>
>  >http://www.outlookindia.com/20000508/coverstory2.htm
>  >Outlook
>  >Dated: May 8, 2000
>  >
>  >
>  >"A venal, dangerous lie"
>  >By Arundhati Roy
>  >
>  >Is the NBA doing more harm than good in trying to protect
>  >two lakh people as against the 40 million intended
>  >beneficiaries of the Sardar Sarovar Dam? Especially since
>  >it has been technically established that water can't be
>  >delivered to the tail-end, Kutch and Saurashtra?
>  >
>  >After all that's happened, after everything that's been
>  >written and said, to be asked this is one of the saddest,
>  >hardest things I've had to face in a long time. It reminds me
>  >of how small and ineffectual a dent one makes when one
>  >argues against an article of faith, and that, unfortunately is
>  >what the Sardar Sarovar has become to some people-a
>  >religious edifice, a deity, a god. And what a twisted, cruel
>  >god it is. Let me just give you some bald facts.
>  >
>  >Let's get one thing straight. The drought is not the reason for the water
>  >policies pursued by the State. It is the result of the policies they have
>  >pursued over the last 15 years. You can't and won't be able to solve the
>  >problem unless you understand what caused it. Contrary to what the
>  >government would like you to believe, the drought is not a natural
>  >calamity. It is man-made. Or should I say State-made? The drought is
>  >not due to a lack of rainfall. Saurashtra had 11 inches of rainfall this
>  >year. Seven of the 10 talukas in Kutch had 75% of their average rainfall.
>  >Yet the reservoirs are empty because they are silted up, and the
>  >groundwater levels have dropped to their lowest in a 100 years because
>  >of deforestation, and the unrestricted, mechanised exploitation of
>  >groundwater. The price for this, of course, is paid by the poorest of the
>  >poor who have no access to either tubewells or political clout. Faced
>  >with this scale of human misery, they suggest the drought is somehow
>  >caused by the absence of the Sardar Sarovar Dam (and the evil NBA)
>  >and that the only solution is the dam! What's the implication? That other
>  >states which are also suffering a drought but haven't planned mega
>  >dams ought to conjure them up? Are we in for a rash of Sardar Sarovar
>  >clones? According to Central Water Commission data, of India's 3,200
>  >Big Dams, over 500 are in Gujarat. Dams on the Mahi and the
>  >Sabarmati (both miles closer to Kutch and Saurashtra than the
>  >Narmada) haven't solved the drought, but they've yielded enough cotton
>  >and sugarcane to create a glut, they've kept the water parks and the
>  >Pepsi-swilling, Mickey Mouse-minded tourists happy even as we speak
>  >(Hindustan Times, April 28). But we are expected to believe that what
>  >  500 dams could not do, the 501st will-the amazing, astonishing,
>  >  all-purpose Sardar Sarovar. This is a lie, a venal, dangerous lie that
>  >uses
>  >  human misery to further its own ends.
>  >
>  >For the last 15 years, Gujarat has allocated over 80% of its entire
>  >irrigation budget to Sardar Sarovar. It has done this to the exclusion of
>  >other smaller, more local, more immediate schemes. In Gujarat's Eighth
>  >Plan (1992-97), out of an irrigation budget of Rs 3,436 crore, 85%-Rs
>  >2,900 crore-was allocated to it. In order to justify this, it says the
>  >project
>  >will take water to Kutch and Saurashtra. That it will provide drinking
>  >water to 40 million people. Take a closer look at the facts. For the sake
>  >of argument, let's for a moment believe all the absurd, computerised,
>  >boyzworld pyrotechnics, that claim the Narmada Canal will take water to
>  >Kutch and Saurashtra. Let's overlook the sugar factories, the golf
>  >courses, water parks and five-star hotels planned along the way. Let's
>  >believe everything they say. If you look at the project documents, you'll
>  >see, that even on paper, even if everything were to go as planned, the
>  >command area irrigates only 1.8% of the cultivable land of Kutch and
>  >9% in Saurashtra. The rest of the water will go to already water-rich
>  >areas of central Gujarat. This is the extent of the deceit and cynicism
>  >we are up against.
>  >
>  >When will the water reach this 1.8% of Kutch and 9% of Saurashtra? In
>  >the year of our Lord 2025 (by which time the dam reservoir will be well
>  >on its way to being silted up). This can be confirmed from a water
>  >resources ministry document dated October '92, filed in the Supreme
>  >Court. (This again, if the project is completed as scheduled, not taking
>  >into account any delays, such as the four-year SC stay). So what is
>  >1.8% of Kutch and 9% of Saurashtra expected to do until then? What of
>  >the rest of the 98.2% of Kutch and 91% of Saurashtra? Should they
>  >stand around and watch while the Sardar Sarovar soaks up the state's
>  >irrigation budget, in their name, while the water actually goes
>  >somewhere else?
>  >
>  >The claim that Sardar Sarovar will bring drinking water to 40 million-that
>  >figure yo-yos around for no apparent reason. It swings between 10
>  >million and 40 million. The fact is providing drinking water to villages
>  >was
>  >never part of the vision of the planners. Even today, the costs aren't
>  >included in the project costs. When the World Bank commissioned the
>  >Independent Review, this was one fact that appalled the Morse
>  >Committee. It was one among the many reasons that led to the Bank
>  >pulling out of the project. The tenders for doing a feasibility study of
>  >the
>  >drinking water scheme for Sardar Sarovar were invited only in '98. In '93
>  >the Narmada Pipeline project was proposed. It envisaged transporting
>  >drinking water from the Narmada to Kutch and Saurashtra even without
>  >the Sardar Sarovar. The project cost was Rs 300 crore. It could have
>  >been completed in three years. Seven years have gone by. Nothing's
>  >been done. Even the dead storage of the dam at its present height has
>  >enough water to meet the drinking water needs of Kutch and
>  >Saurashtra. The only thing lacking is political will and the funds being
>  >used up by the project.
>  >
>  >The important thing to keep in mind now, as this crisis comes to a
>  >head, is how do we crawl out of the hole we've dug ourselves into? It is
>  >encouraging to see, all over the media, the first signs of recognition that
>  >something is seriously wrong with what has been happening so far. A lot
>  >of attention has been given to the positive peoples' initiatives, that have
>  >demonstrated in a small, but stubbornly successful manner that the way
>  >out of this morass is smaller, more local, decentralised projects. The
>  >wonderful work of the Tarun Bharat Sangh in Alwar has been
>  >recognised, and rightly so, by the President. More power to them. In
>  >Kutch and Saurashtra there is a movement called the 'well-recharging
>  >movement' where thousands of wells have been recharged. Even
>  >hardened politicians, the prime minister and the Gujarat chief minister,
>  >have begun to talk of rainwater harvesting. This is wonderful. Perhaps
>  >the time has come when we will see Big Dams as not the first, but the
>  >very last resort.It would mean an end to thirst in Gujarat. It would mean
>  >a victory for the principles of democracy. It would mean that we still have
>  >hope.
>  >===================================================