Pawan Solanki is a second-generation member of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the “Save the Narmada Movement”.  Pawan Solanki grew up with the threat of displacement hanging over his head. His family lives along the banks of the Narmada River, the site of one of the world’s largest and most controversial dam projects. He knows the reality of a displaced community and…

Pawan Solanki

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The dam at Kothida, Bharud Pura, Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh took just a year to get a crack. More than 11 surrounding villages are at risk now due to this leakage and residents are asked to vacate the area.

The Karam River Dam, built at the cost of more than INR 300 crores (about 3,700,000 USD) has become a curse for the nearby villagers, within a year of its operations. The government has vacated more than 11 villages from the low lying areas to a safe area, including their belongings and cattles. It's a makeshift tent and the Government is providing food for them.

Few of the villagers are sheltered in a school on a higher ground along with their cattles, and wherever little belongings they could carry. Few people are saying that in this haste they left behind their farming equipment, valuables and documents. They are unsure about their rehabilitation as they have heard some unsavoury stories of earlier rehabilitations. 

In the video, we can see few people were given monetary compensation from the other side of the dam but no land or any other assistance. They were asked to vacate their village within fifteen days and in that chaos of dismantling and shifting houses, the talk about compensation was never really addressed. In those fifteen days, they had to dismantle their brick houses and carry all the materials to the safe place. It was in summer when they had to dismantle and put up every brick in the tractors and carry, without much access to food or water. They had a harrowing experience shifting to a safe place. 

The villagers are arguing that if the Government had a better rehabilitation policy, they would not have to go through such difficult times. They needed more time to vacate and relocate their houses with all their belongings. They also did not get the necessary arrangements or materials to rebuild their houses nor access to drinking water. People who had one plot of land have not been compensated for their land yet. They have also not been given compensatory amounts for tube wells and water pipelines. The compensation amount which is given by the Water Resources Department is not sufficient.

This is a request to the Government to consider proper relief arrangements for the affected people living in the lower areas immediately. Hope your sharing the video will create the necessary buzz in this direction.