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When the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) announced last week that it would intensify its agitation against the Supreme Court's verdict in favour of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), the Gujarat Government lost no time in demanding that the Centre institute a CBI inquiry into the Andolan's foreign connections.

With writer Arundhati Roy in tow, the NBA's Medha Patkar unambiguously vowed at a protest rally in the valley that she would continue the struggle with "redoubled vigour" as the judgement was "tantamount to convicting innocents". In an equally aggressive posture, Gujarat's Narmada Development
Minister Jai Narayan Vyas retorted that a CBI probe into the NBA's overseas links, particularly the flow of funds, was the only answer. "It will expose their true designs," he asserted.

It was clear by now that the Supreme Court's verdict would not be taken to be the final word. The NBA and the Gujarat Government were now engaged in a vitriolic out-of-court battle. And with that came the real trial: completing the task of rehabilitating those displaced by the project.

The NBA has all along maintained that the resettlement of the
project-affected families (PAFs), there are 41,000 in all, of which 33,000 are from Madhya Pradesh, cannot be done under the existing parameters. The Gujarat Government says it isn't an impossible task, especially if the Madhya Pradesh Government extended "wholehearted cooperation".

At the crux of this debate are facts and figures, which ironically have been lost over the past 15 years since the project was first mooted. As of date, 85 per cent of the 8,000 PAFs from Gujarat and Maharashtra have already been resettled, a majority of them in Gujarat. Of the 33,000 PAFs from Madhya Pradesh, 18,000 stand to lose only their houses and not their farmland. Of
the 15,000 who will lose both, 14,000 have to be resettled in Gujarat and the rest in Madhya Pradesh in accordance with an understanding that the two states reached years ago.

Of the 14,000 PAFs from Madhya Pradesh who are to be resettled in Gujarat, 3,300 have already been taken care of. The problem lies with the remaining 11,000, many of whom subscribe to the NBA's point of view and are refusing to move out of Madhya Pradesh into Gujarat. The Madhya Pradesh Government has stood its ground and is not willing to to partake more responsibility
than what it had agreed to earlier. "Resettling these families who are losing land to submergence is a difficult task but not impossible given the Gujarat Government's good record so far," says Hasmukh Patel, pro-dam activist. "But the Madhya Pradesh Government's cooperation is imperative."

As the NBA misses no occasion to point out, many of the tribals displaced from the hilly terrains of Madhya Pradesh are now on flat land in Gujarat. Problems of acclimatisation apart, it points to the manner in which whole tribal villages have been split into two or three units, according to the availability of land, after resettlement in Vadodara, Bharuch, Panchmahal and other districts.

Jamsingh Ugrawania of Madhya Pradesh's Jalsindhi village who has now settled down in Golagamdi of Vadodara district in Gujarat cannot understand what the fuss is all about. "Our standard of living has gone up now," he explains. Piped water supply, electricity, a full-time doctor, they were unheard of for
those like him earlier. Now, Ugrawania can't imagine life without them.

The NBA, however, points to villages like Dormar in Vadodara, where PAFs from Katnera in Madhya Pradesh have been resettled. Within one year of being set up, the village has only three resettled families. Reason: more than a dozen families returned to Katnera after they didn't get the promised land.

Apparently, there is more to it than meets the eye. As Dongar Singh Balai who has stayed back explains, most of those resettled were landless labourers like him. Though he faults Patkar for stretching her agitation too far, he says it was due to her efforts that even landless labourers were given land. It was only when the monsoons failed and earning a livelihood became difficult that the new land-holders were disillusioned. In around
eight cases, the quality of land allotted too was substandard.

The bad experience in Dormar apart, the real test for the Gujarat Government lies in the rehabilitation of the 11,000 PAFs who are resisting the move. It needs 22,000 hectares of land, of which 7,000 have already been identified. Getting the remaining 15,000 hectares in the preferred districts of Vadodara, Bharuch and Panchmahal will be difficult. And if the displaced are moved to regions farther in the state, they would find it that much more
difficult to get acclimatised.

For now, the Supreme Court has indicated that the rehabilitation work will continue only after the Grievance Redressal Committees of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra give their green signal. With Madhya Pradesh in no mood to relent, it is certain to be a tough call for Gujarat.

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