The country’s development planning is anti-people and will lead to national turmoil, activist Medha Patkar tells Sreelatha Menon
Why were you attacked in Chhattisgarh recently? Why did you go there?
The state is reacting to Naxalite violence with its own army. It claims that it has got people’s support. Communities are getting uprooted, there is so much brutal violence. Home Minister P Chidambaram had promised activists that he would attend a public hearing there. He went back on his promise. So, we had gone to meet people there.
Why did the public hearing get cancelled?
The governor and the chief minister of Chhattisgarh wrote to Chidambaram that he should not come. As the Central Reserve Police Force is deployed there, Chidambaram has every right to check what is happening.
We were provided elaborate police security. But we were deliberately not warned about the mob that was waiting to attack us. The attack was managed by the state and those who were in the mob knew exactly who we were. The leading people were from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress and one of them, Swayam Moka, is wanted by the police. I don’t know what the state gets by attacking us.
You said the mob had special police officers (SPOs) appointed by the state. But aren’t these SPOs tribals? Your critics say you are dividing the tribals there by identifying SPOs as your enemies.
The SPOs are no more in a position to think about their origins. They say they are employees of the state and can’t afford to lose their jobs. The state has found a new way to empower the tribals — by dividing them!
Has the movement you started against the Sardar Sarovar project failed? The dam is almost complete and the displaced, who stood by you and refused to accept land, got nothing.
There are two regions in the affected areas. One is the hilly region, where the tribals didn’t touch cash. These included 33 villages in Maharashtra and some in Madhya Pradesh. At the same time, 11,000 families got land in Maharashtra and Gujarat due to the movement. Madhya Pradesh did not give land to any family. It offered cash to avoid fulfilling its undertaking to the court, which allowed construction, subject to rehabilitation. Around 200,000 people are living in the submergence area. The government’s policy of giving cash has been exposed. It claimed that 3,000 people accepted cash. Now, it has been exposed that 2,000 of these were given fake registrations and one plot of land was being sold eight times on paper.
We have won the battle in the high court and a commission of inquiry has been appointed. The Madhya Pradesh government has gone to the Supreme Court and not given funds to the inquiry commission. People were compelled to accept cash. While 200,000 people are living in thickly-populated villages and townships that will submerge, there are 80 resettlement sites.
What will these people do now?
Those who will get land won’t leave these plots. But the state government has now come up with a new report on backwater level (the highest water level), saying that 55 villages will be out of the submerged area. All these years, it said 80 villages would be submerged. An expert committee of the Centre has, however, rejected the finding.
How will you fight this battle if you are given another chance?
The claims of the dam’s proponents have been exposed. For instance, Gujarat has built only 30 per cent of the canal network it had planned to build over 30 years and has spent 20,000 crore. The cost shown earlier was Rs 4,200 crore and the Planning Commission gave clearance in 1988 for Rs 6,000 crore. We said the price would go up to Rs 45,000 crore, while the Planning Commission said the work would cost Rs 70,000 crore by 2012. Now, the Gujarat government says it will build a pipeline three foot below the ground. Gujarat is using less than 10 per cent of the water available. It is able to irrigate only 70,000 hectares, as against its claim of 800,000 hectares. The cost comes to Rs 30 lakh per hectare.
Not more than 10 per cent of villages have got water supply. The power generation target has also not been met. The environmental clearance was conditional on compliance with various matters. As nothing has been complied with, the project will stop. It should stop. The Comptroller and Auditor General has also said this. The Planning Commission should have reviewed it.
Will it stop?
Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments are still saying that gates should be erected. The Centre should take a position. The attorney general has said that further construction is not possible. The central sub-groups have echoed this. If gates are erected, the dam’s height will increase by 17 metres in one go and the dam will be finished.
Do you think Mahatma Gandhi would have failed in a struggle like this?
Today is not the same as then. The development being pushed today is absolutely brutal. They are killing living communities.
Are you pleased with the draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill?
It brings the idea of minimum-displacement development, but does not reflect the process of choosing from various options. Our draft had that, but it was shelved by the Cabinet. Corporatisation and inequality are big problems. Natural resources are given to industry while those who depend on these resources for a living are evicted. This kind of planning is unconstitutional. I feel the directive principles should become justiciable as that will automatically stop concentration of wealth or privatisation of mineral wealth.
Many industrial projects are stuck for want for land. Industry says non-government organisations have taken over and people don’t have a choice.
On the contrary, everything is in the hands of industry. Why should people give up their resources? Will the Tatas agree to give up a part of their company in return for anything from the villagers? People should have the right to their resources.
But decentralisation and devolution are painfully slow.
Going slow is fine and is better than going fast and wrong.
