Jal Satyagraha: Public Power: Civil Services Mentor Magazine November 2012

Oustees of the Omkareshwar Dam project called off their jal satyagraha after the Madhya Pradesh government accepted all their demands and constituted a ministerial committee to look into their grievances. On the 17th day of the protest, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced that the government had agreed to the key demands of the agitators — reducing the water level of the dam to 189 meters and providing land for land compensation to all those who had lost their land. “Compliance with the order given by the Grievances Redressal Authority about giving land for land to farmers surrendering 50 per cent [of their financial] compensation will be ensured within 90 days,” Mr. Chauhan said, after holding a “direct dialogue” with the affected farmers of Ghoghalgaon, Kewla Buzurg, Aikhand and Kamankhera at his residence. “A highlevel committee will hear problems of the dam-affected people,” he said.

On September 10 the Madhya Pradesh Government partially accepted the demands of the ‘Jal Satyagraha’ in Khandwa district. Accordingly the water-level of Onkareshwar dam was almost immediately reduced to the legal limit so that the illegal and premature submergence of several villages was undone. The government has promised that land in place of land will be provided to the displaced people. However till the time of writing on September 11, the Jal Satyagraha in Harda district (Indirasagar or Narmadasagar dam oustees) was still continuing.

Even in Khandwa (Onkareshwar dam) the government has also stipulated a condition that a significant part of the cash compensation will have to be returned by any family before it can receive land. This condition ignores how much damage and distress people have suffered due to the illegal and premature submergence of their land as well as the delay in providing land to them for such a long time. Initially why did the government insist on providing only cash ignoring court orders? How much loss was caused to people by this illegal action of government? Keeping in view the enormous distress already suffered by the people, the government should waive the condition of first returning a signifi-cant part of the cash compensation received earlier by several families before they can get their land. Already the government has faced widespread criticism for its insensitivity in ignoring the legal demands of people facing displacement. Now the government can at least partially make up for this by showing a lot of generosity.