|
For over two decades, nearly 150,000 people threatened with displacement by the Koel Karo project have stalled work until their demands for total resettlement are met.
Everybody knows about the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Lesser-known is the struggle at Koel Karo, where for over two decades, nearly 150,000 people threatened with displacement have stalled work until their demands for total resettlement are met. The Rs 2,300 crore Koel Karo Hydel Power Project in Torpa and Tamar areas of Jharkhand has been awaiting implementation for three decades. The project was initiated by the Bihar government in 1973 and handed over to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in 1980-81. Two dams were to be built on the rivers Koel and Karo to generate 710 MW of electricity. However, the government cannot make up it! s mind as to how many villages and how much area will be submerged. In 1973 the government claimed that 42 villages would be submerged. This figure rose to 112 in 1986. Now even this is considered an underestimate -- 256 villages might face submergence, displacing 1.5 lakh people (mostly adivasis). The people who were to be affected by the project were not even aware of it. They realised this only when land acquisition began, and then formed the Koel-Karo Jan Sangathan. The Sangathan initially co-operated with the government and said it would support the project if it was considered a 'people's project' and policies and plans were made transparent. The government was indifferent to the request and the Sangathan initiated a kaam roko (stop work) campaign in 1977-78. The government agreed to conduct a socio-economic survey of the villages, to plan rehabilitation and resettlement. The survey was und! ertaken in a few villages, then stopped. The people then prepared a document of sampoorna punarvas (total resettlement), demanding that two villages be resettled and only if this was done satisfactorily could the government proceed. In July 1984 the government announced that force would be used, if need be. Armed police arrived to forcibly acquire land. The resistance they faced made them pack up and leave. Policemen were prevented from cutting trees to set up camp; nobody sold them fuel wood; a rumour was spread that the water well was poisoned. They were not even allowed to defecate in the forest! Adivasi women turned the dirt roads into agricultural land, to stop police jeeps from moving about. This led to a writ petition being filed in the Supreme Court. The SC ordered that the project be stopped until certain demands of resettlement were complied with. A resettlement policy was announced but never imp! lemented. The project has so far cost the national exchequer Rs 40 crore. NHPC incurs an annual 'establishment cost' of Rs 3 crores. Sangathan President Paulus Gudia reiterates the slogan, ''We will give our life but not the land.'' The Sangathan says: "No compensation, no resettlement, no project". The project may not even be viable any more, feels a retired NHPC engineer. "These rivers may not provide sufficient water to generate more than 100 MW now." The same problems are being faced in several projects across India in the name of national development. People are displaced and alienated but nothing tangible is achieved. In 1941, 12.5 per cent of the Jharkhand region was under irrigation. In 1981, this came down to 4.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Rs 9,000 crores have been spent on 104 irrigation schemes! Contact: So! mamunda / Bijay Guriya
Koel Karo Jansanghatan
Loha Jhimi, Post Tapkara
Dist Ranchi, Bihar, India
Tel: 91-6538-71256
|
