Rehabilitation – A mind boggling process

Rehabilitation is a complex process. It not only involves getting the people resettled but in a way requires picking up a village. Copying its ingredients and pasting it at a distant location. We came across a few problems associated with rehabilitation, which has been summarized as follows.


• Right to Misinformation

The dam affected villager were never informed or educated about their right to get land in exchange of their existing land. They were bluntly suggested to accept the compensation otherwise they will end up losing both the land as well as the compensation.

• No man’s land

One of the complexities of rehabilitation has been resettling people who have encroached on a land are not the legitimate owners of the particular land. These people pay a tax for the encroachment which varies from Rs 150 to Rs 200, payable after every six months. The dated receipt of paying such a tax is the only evidence for such people to exercise their right to get land. However, generally facts are manipulated and such people are deprived of their right, although rehabilitation policy has specifically defined the rights of such people.

• Pride and prejudice

There have been instances when the authorities have obstructed and not taken initiatives in the process of rehabilitation and resettlement just for the sake of doing it. The point will be relevant through following case study.
Dharaji has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. It is a case of ignorance as far as the authorities and tolerance as far as villagers are concerned. The dreadful incident of the devotees flown away by the velocity of the water released from the Indira Sagar Dam has made a huge bearing on the lives of the villagers. The process of rehabilitation in this village is a matter of grave concern and has not been addressed for long time now. In circumstances where the compensation of the villagers is pending and the land and the plots remain to be allocated etc, the act of preparing a bridge on a Nala for a massive budget of 11 lakh defies all logic. The authorities could have spent a lower expenditure and rehabilitated and resettled villagers, instead of constructing a useless bridge which will be of no use once the village gets submerged. It seems it’s always been a problem of intent rather than a problem of resource allocation.

• Mission possible
Even after stringent directions of the Supreme Court which is one of the highest judiciaries to indulge in any sort of construction above the crest level in the Maheshwar dam, there seems to be no difference and on the contrary the process had been expedited. As a result of such a massive exploitation, the villagers of Lepa and Jalud, who have close proximity to dam have taken the gauntlet in their own hand and initiated a Dharna. In fact, if we look at the history of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Dharna and protest are the only possible ways which has some resistance to the carnage which seems never ending.

• Enemy at the gates

The people who are associated with Narmada Bachao Andolan are paying heavy price for their involvement. There have been cases wherein people working for other government entities, when voiced their opinion in support of Narmada Bachao Andolan, were the receiving end of exploitation , manipulation and discrimination. A few villagers have been dismissed, terminated and blacklisted in their fight to attain justice. Narmada Bachao Andolan has witnessed the greatest irony of democracy. There have been instances when volunteers trying to explore the truth of the Maheshwar dam have been ill-treated by the security guard on the gate and bluntly told “Move away you are our enemy, why should you see Maheshwar Dam?”
Later on he allowed volunteers to visit Maheshwar and shook hands with them when they were about to leave. Whether it was the assertiveness of the volunteers or the guilt of the security guard still remains to be seen?

Posted by abhijit sarkar at 3:20 AM 0 comments