Valley woes

Current status of dam’s submergence area

178 Affected villages, of which one uninhabited village will be totally submerged and 177 will be partially submerged. PAFs have vacated 107 of the 178 villages 12,577 Families have been displaced from the submergence area till now. They have either relocated to resettlement sites or made their accommodation arrangements elsewhere. 7,010 after SC’s Feb 8 order, asking people to vacate by July 31, MP govt used drones and geo-tagging and found 7,010 families living in 71 villages in Barwani, Dhar districts. Of these, 1,524 are living both at their old houses in the submergence area and in their new homes. 20,822 hectares of land will be submerged in MP, 9,590 hectares in Maharashtra and 7,112 hectares in Gujarat, affecting nearly 43,021 families in MP, 4,227 in Maharashtra and 4,500 in Gujarat, according to the NBA.

WHEN THE water rises fully, 178 villages in MP, 33 in Maharashtra and 19 in Gujarat will be affected.

Timeline

1946: Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat proposed 1961: Jawahar Lal Nehru laid foundation stone

1969:Under Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, Centre set up Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) to resolve inter-state disputes among MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

1979:NWDT came up with the NWDT Award with 16 clauses, with Clause XI specifically detailing the directions regarding submergence, land acquisition and rehabilitation of the displaced persons.

1994: NBA petitions SC for an independent body to examine the project. Petition dismissed in 2000. 2008: Justice SS Jha Commission set up by high court to probe allegations regarding fake land sale registries, corruption in rehabilitation sites, issuance of livelihood grants, allotment of plots for construction of houses related to oustees of dam.