New Delhi: Major General Sudhir Vombatkere (retired) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about concerns regarding the Sardar Sarovar Dam in the Narmada river valley. He has brought to attention the displacement of Dalit and Adivasi families because of this dam, who are yet to be rehabilitated.
The project-affected families, he writes, have been subject to “serious injustices and violation of fundamental rights…by successive state and central governments and by apathetic/incompetent/corrupt officials of the administrative and technical bodies appointed by them”.
Read the full letter below.
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Respected Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi,
My respectful greetings to you on having taken Oath of Office as my Prime Minister for the third time.
I am writing to request your urgent attention concerning the Sardar Sarovar Dam in the Narmada river valley. The impending 2024 monsoon will raise the level of the back-waters of the dam depending upon the level to which the dam gates store water. In the past years, water stored up to level 122-m has submerged the lands and homes of Project-affected families (PAFs) of Adivasi and Dalit people, whose rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) is yet to be done, notwithstanding orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
I have written letters on this serious matter earlier also – on 16.09.2015, 27.06.2016 and 15.09.2017 – but PMO officials may not have brought it to your attention, perhaps having prioritised it below other matters that call for the attention of the Prime Minister of India, the world’s largest democracy.
In order to bring the seriousness of continuous injustice over many years to your attention, I want to mention that I have written similar letters on the very same matters to my (then) Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, on 25.03.2006, 22.01.2007, 14.04.2007, 15.09.2009, 31.10.2009 and 01.07.2013. Those letters too may not have been brought to (then) Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh’s attention by PMO officials for the same reasons. Thus, injustices continue.
The serious injustices and violation of fundamental rights inflicted upon the PAFs by successive state and central governments and by apathetic/incompetent/corrupt officials of the administrative and technical bodies appointed by them, have continued unremedied over the years, in clear violation of orders issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
I hope and pray that this time at least, my sincere request is brought to your most immediate attention by PMO officials.
At present, starting 15 June 2024, thousands of people, mostly women, are peacefully demonstrating against the continuous injustices, as they have been doing for many years past. In order to prevent further disaster due to the impending 2024 monsoon, the legitimate immediate five demands of the peaceful protestors are:
(a) Maintain Sardar Sarovar dam reservoir water at 122-m level, until the full R&R of all PAFs is completed in accordance with law and judicial orders.
(b) Ensure no further submergence of homes, farms, and livelihood sites, in the monsoon of 2024.
(c) Withdraw the fraudulently revised back-water levels, and ensure R&R of all 15,946 families previously identified as project-affected.
(d) Resolve all pending 6,000 R&R applications before the Grievance Redressal Authorities (GRAs).
(e) Compensate all the losses incurred by PAFs during 2023 flooding and previous years.
Many of these PAFs and many others who support them, have undertaken relay fast in the satyagraha tradition set by Mahatma Gandhi. Among them is Smt.Medha Patkar, who is on an indefinite satyagraha fast since 15 June 2024, at the site of the protest demonstration. Smt.Medha Patkar’s physical condition is deteriorating and causing very serious concern and worry among the demonstrators and others country-wide, who support justice for the oustees of the Narmada dam projects.
Therefore, for my Prime Minister to earn the blessings of the PAFs of the Narmada valley projects, who are patiently and peacefully enduring government-inflicted injustices and neglect over many years, I very respectfully and earnestly request and pray that you urgently:
(a) Order all officials of NCA and NVDA to immediately halt submergence at 122-m level of the Sardar Sarovar dam, and honestly and transparently ensure rehabilitation of the 15,946 project-affected families already identified,
(b) Order all officials of NCA and NVDA to rescind the fraudulently revised back-water levels,
(c) Order all officials of NCA and NVDA to address and resolve all pending R&R applications filed before the Grievance Redressal Authorities (GRAs),
(d) Order implementation of all other R&R measures as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,
(e) Order compensation of losses incurred by project-affected families during the years up to and including the 2023 monsoon, due to submergence at 122-m level, and
(f) Order a careful and transparent review of the entire situation including an honest social-economic impact assessment.
Yours faithfully,
Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd)
