Enter the Narmada Valley

The first roads came to this remote region of India to take people away from their dwellings to rehabilitation sites, that many a time are non-existent. Nearly 50,000 families from 33 villages in Maharshtra, 193 villages in Madhya Pradesh and 19 villages of Gujarat are being displaced by the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada. What is not controversial however is that every displaced family should begiven alternate agricultural land and home in the rehabilitation site. The Supreme Court Judgement of Oct 2000 and the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award of 1979 make complete rehabilitation of all affected families, 6 months prior to submergence a condition for raising of the dam height. However with the people, the SC judgement is also facing submergence as the dam height has steadily gone up from 88 metres in Oct 2000 to the current 110 metres with tens ofthousands of people yet to be rehabilitated.