Land Acq-2004.pdf - Indian Social Institute

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Saturday itself but was kept on hold until the Election Commission cleared it today. Gujarat now says that the dam will be reach 110.64 metres within 120 days, just before the monsoons. Each time the height increase comes up for clearance, there is controversy. But this time, Maharashtra refused to file the Action Taken Report (ATR) on rehabilitation saying it would only do so when all families were rehabilitated. Officially, this figure is 177 but the state government admitted to The <strong>Indian</strong> Express last week that there could be an "additional 500." (<strong>Indian</strong> Express 17.3.04) 18 th March Medha Patkar forms political front (4) MUMBAl, MARCH 17. Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan today announced that she and several others from the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) have formed the People's Political Front (PPF) and that they plan to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Ms. Patkar, however, refused to confirm whether she would contest from Rajapur, Maharashtra, against the sitting Shiv Sena MP, Suresh Prabhu. "This is not a question of an individual decision," she said. In the next few days, the PPF will release a People's Manifesto and also announce whether and how many of them are standing for elections. Asked on what basis they would decide where to contest, Ms. Patkar said that apart from areas where the constituents of the NAPM were strong, they would go "wherever we are invited." The PPF is considering putting up candidates or campaigning in constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. (The Hindu 18.3.04) 20 th March Supreme Court to hear petition in Narmada case on March 26 (4) NEW DELHI, MARCH 13. The Supreme Court will hear on March 26 a petition against the move of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam to 110 metres even before the completion of the rehabilitation of affected people. The hearing was fixed by a three-judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice V. N. Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice S.H. Kapadia, when counsel for the petitioners mentioned it for an early hearing of the matter. The petitioners, residents of Picchodi village in Madhya Pra-desh, in an application in the case filed earlier by the Narmada Bachao Andolan, alleged that the NCA had cleared the move to raise the height of the dam from 95 metres to 110 metres. Since the affected people had not yet been rehabilitated, their habitat faced the imminent threat of submergence. The NCA's move — when rehabilitation of the affected people at the heights of 95 and 100 metres was yet to be completed in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra — was against the interim order of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal and the direction issued by the Supreme Court on October 18, 2000 that all the three affected States must complete rehabilitation before raising the height any further. (Hindu 20.3.04) Medha Patkar’s appeal to EC (4) PATNA, MARCH 19. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has urged the Election Commission to stop the Gujarat Government from raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam level from 100 metres to 110 metres, saying that it was violative of the model code of conduct. The Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, who participated in a dhar-na demanding the immediate arrest of the killers of social activists, Saritha and Mahesh, said the objective was to influence the voters and violated the directives of the Commission not to take up any new work after the announcement of the election. Ms. Patkar also claimed that it violated the Supreme Court ruling of 2000 not to raise the height of the dam without first taking care of the rehabilitation package. In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamur-thy, she said the Maharashtra Government had accepted that it would take several months to rehabilitate the affected families. Urging immediate action, Ms. Patkar maintained that the Gujarat Government's action was taken in undue political haste. (The Hindu 20.3.04) 21 st March EC stops Modi’s Narmada yatra (4) Gandhinagar, March 20: The Election Commission on Saturday ordered the Gujarat administration to immediately stop chief minister Narendra Modi's Narmada Pujan Yatra. The
yatra, between Ahmedabad and Kevadia, was stopped at Dabhoi taluka, about 60 km from Kevadia. The yatra, to hail the NCA decision to raise the height of the Narmada dam from 100 metres to 110.64 metres, was organised despite the NCA's directions to desist from holding an inauguration or foundation stone-laying ceremony while the model code of conduct for the parliamentary elections was in force. Deputy election commissioner A.N. Jha called up Gujarat chief secretary P.K. Laheri asking him to immediately halt the Narmada Pujan Yatra, which began from Ahmedabad on Saturday. (Asian Age 21.3.04) 17 th April Court declines to stay dam work (4) NEW DELHI, APRIL 16. The Supreme Court today refused to stay the construction work underway to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam from 100 to 110 metres. A three-judge Bench, comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice S. B. Sinha, said that it would be very difficult to stop the construction on generalities. There had to be a grave situation warranting interference. The Gujarat Government informed the court that work on increasing the dam height would be completed by the end of June. (Hindu 17.4.04) 7 th May Final hearing in July on Swamy plea to raise dam level (4) NEW DELHI, MAY 6. The Supreme Court has adjourned to July the final hearing of the petitions filed by the Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, and the Tamil Nadu Government seeking raising of the water level of the Mullaiperiyar dam in Kerala from 136 to 152 feet. A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice, S. Rajendra Babu, Justice G.P. Mathur, and Justice S.H. Kapadia, posted the case for the period after the summer vacation. The court had already allowed transfer to itself of a bunch of petitions (on raising the water level), filed by Dr. Swamy and the Tamil Nadu Government, pending in the Madras High Court and a batch of petitions pending in the Kerala High Court. During the pendency of the petitions, the Centre set up an expert committee pursuant to the court's direction to go into the safety aspects of raising the level beyond 136 feet. The committee recommended raising the level initially up to 142 feet. The Centre, which accepted the report, in an affidavit said the level could initially be raised up to 142 feet. It also said strengthening measures suggested by the Central Water Commission and recommended by the committee were necessary for the safety of the dam. In its response, the Tamil Nadu Government urged the court to issue appropriate directions to the Centre and the Kerala government for implementing the findings of the committee and to permit the State to raise the water level up to 142 feet as an interim measure. However, Kerala urged the court to reject the committee's "unilateral" report, as it did not duly take into account the State's concerns. (The Hindu 7.5.04) 1 st June State to focus on increase in dam height (4) Ahmedabad, May 31: Faced with stiff pressure from dissidents demanding a change in his leadership, chief minister Narendra Modi chose to perform Narmada Pujan at the sile at Kevadia Colony on Sunday where he inspected progress in the construction of the dam. The work of raising the dam height to 110.64 meters before the monsoons is in full swing at Kevadia. Mr Modi said maximum utilisation of Narmada waters will be made for benefits of the farmers and a scientific planning is being done for the distribution of the waters accordingly. Mr Modi also held a meeting with top SSNL officials onSunday. He said the state government will now focus its energy to raise the dam height to 121.94 meters by June 2005. The process of entering into an agreement and power purphase agreement with the Gujarat Electricity Board for the 250 MW power to be generated by the canal head power house in August is allso in its final stages. The meeting also reviewed the interaction with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to plan rehabilitation to take the dam height to 121.94 metres. (Asian Age 1.6.04) 11 th June India figures prominently in UNEP report (4) NEW DELHI, JUNE 10. The Narmada Dam controversy and displacement due to cleaning of
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Land Acq-2004.pdf - Indian Social Institute

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