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DAM-L LS: Survey of SSP-Affected Jalsindhi Village Wrong by 3 Metres. (fwd)



subject: LS: Survey of SSP-Affected Jalsindhi Village Wrong by 3 Metres.
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
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Press Note  21.8.2000

Survey in SSP affected Jalsindhi village wrong by 3 metres.
Gross Underestimation of Impacts

Casting serious doubts of the authenticity of the surveys conducted 
by the different governments in the Narmada valley, independent 
surveys have revealed that the level of Jalsindhi (Madhya Pradesh) 
mentioned in the govt. records are wrong by 3 mts.

A study conducted by Dr.Ravi Kuchimanchi and a team have conclusively 
proved that the survey of levels in the Sardar Sarovar Dam project 
can be off by as much as 3 metres so as to grossly under-estimate the 
amount of submergence. On the banks of the Narmada, in the village of 
Jalsindhi in Madhya Pradesh the elevation of the lowest house as per 
papers given by the government is 101.5 metres. However according to 
independent measurements, Loharia’s house in Jalsindhi is only at 
98.4 metres and thus is actually 3.1 metres lower. Last year when the 
Narmada rose to 98.8 metres on Sept 21, waters entered Loharia’s 
house and people were standing knee deep in it, challenging the 
unjust SSP dam. If the lowest homestead in Jalsindhi was actually at 
101.5 metres, waters should not have entered even a single house in 
that village. The study has also found that in the Hapeshwar temple, 
(in Gujarat) the benchmark is off by 3 metres and so were the 
readings of water levels measured by the government at this site in 
the past years. Benchmarks are supposed to be highly accurate, even 
to the last millimeter and this one that says 105.900 metres is 
actually at 103 metres! Last week the poles leading to the Narmada 
river showing the Hapeshwar water level have been painted over. 
Perhaps they will now be corrected, but nevertheless it proves that 
benchmarks along the Narmada river had errors of upto 3 metres when 
the government surveys were done, and this is not good news for those 
who are facing submergence by the monster dam.

This proves a gross underestimation of the effects of submergence in 
the valley during this monsoon and after. Hundreds of families, who 
did not find their names, as ‘affected’ will have to pay for this 
callousness. The affidavits submitted in the Supreme Court about the 
people who will get affected this monsoon, and the steps taken to 
rehabilitate them will also be proved wrong by this.

The consequences of this underestimation can be well noted in the 
case of Bargi dam  the first major dam completed on Narmada in 1990. 
Bargi dam, which was originally supposed to submerge only 101 
villages, ended up drowning 162 villages. People who were moved to 
rehabilitation sites were submerged for a second and sometimes even a 
third time because waters entered even these supposedly “higher” 
places. Rehabilitation sites, schools, hand pumps etc which the govt. 
built for the affected met a watery grave by the dam completed.

To further prove the point, in Chilkada, Alirajpur tehsil, in two 
different set of government papers, the height of the lowest 
homestead has been shown differently -- on one it has been given as 
115.84 metres and on the other there is a home at 113.74 metres and 
no home at 115.84 metres! The horror of displacement is such that 
when a house or farm is situated even one inch above the stones laid 
by the government, the person is not considered Project Affected and 
no one, including the GRA, listens to their complaints. They are just 
dismissed rudely. That the village person thinks water will enter 
his/her house is ofcourse ignored as the system is not friendly to 
hearing the views of the affected people  they rely on the government 
records. When a farmer or adivasi is expected to lose less than 25% 
of land in submergence, he/she is not entitled to land for land 
compensation. In this situation, surveys being off by even a few 
centimetres can make a difference on percentage of land lost and 
whether there will be land for land or not. The Bargi experience of 
rehabilitation sites themselves submerging, may also repeat if the 
surveys are wrong at the sites. To exemplify, Chandankhedi 
rehabilitation site in Kukshi tahsil, district Dhar and Bhawati in 
District Badwani, are according to the government surveys, at 143 
metres less than 2 metres above the backwaters that will cross 141 
metres if the dam is completed.

To make matters worse the way the governments indicate where the 
waters will reach in a village is highly arbitrary. In Chilkada 
village, MP, the officials installed stones with no numbers on them 
and villagers who enquired were told verbally that waters would reach 
there on completion of the dam. But three years ago all such stones 
have been removed and put about 6 metres lower, and once again no 
numbers were on them. In villages like Sikka in Maharashtra a pile of 
stones was put this year and some lime has been poured over them and 
once again no informative numbers are put. People who were present 
when they were being piled up were told that waters would reach there 
this year. In Badwani, MP almost exactly near the 436 feet stones put 
in the recent years, on the road in a couple of places there are much 
older stones of 411 feet! In some places there are 436 and 455 feet 
stones together but according to the officials this is because the 
back waters of the FRL 436 feet reach the 455 area. That may be the 
case, but then how does one explain the old 411 stones? The highly 
accurate surveys were wrong either now or in the past or probably at 
both times by different amounts.

It is evident that there is no land to rehabilitate all the people 
and farms being displaced by the SSP dam. On top of this the 
government surveys are understating the amount of submergence and 
information given to the people is confusing, arbitrary and 
contradictory. There is neither will nor ability to rehabilitate 
people according to the Narmada Tribunal and the amount of 
destruction that is being done by the SSP dam is far too great to 
even estimate. It must be recognized that the project itself is 
nonviable and illegal, having violated not only the Tribunal but also 
environmental laws, and should be stopped and completely reviewed 
taking the affected people into confidence and with their 
participation.

NBA takes serious note of this and urge all the state governments to 
stall all work related to the dam  including the illegal distribution 
of cash in M.P. Unless a proper survey is carried out in Gujarat, 
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh again, one will not be able to assess 
the impacts and thus will fall behind preparation for rehabilitation 
of thousands more, who have not yet found in the records of the 
governments. To avoid a grave human tragedy, all concerned should 
take immediate steps to see that the basic surveys are corrected and 
the impacts rightly assessed, before pushing the project on political 
reasons and for protecting vested interests.


M.K.Sukumar				Joe Athialy




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