Pressure on MoEF to revoke stop-work
With pressure mounting from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to revoke the stop-work order on the Maheshwar project, minister Jairam Ramesh has decided to visit the Narmada valley to get a first-hand appraisal of what is happening on the ground.
This controversial dam has been under construction for more than a decade with the project being privatised in 1992 after being handed over to the S. Kumar group for completion.
Its construction has faced opposition by activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan who have drawn the attention of Mr Ramesh to the “blatant irregularities that have been committed by the group”.
The MoEF had written a letter to M.L. Gupta heading the Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation on April 23 2010 pointing out that negligible research and resettlement (R&R) work had been for the 70,000 people living in the 22 villages that are expected to be submerged.
The letter also mentioned that the two stipulated wildlife sanctuaries had not been created and most importantly, the backwater level calculation report to be submitted to the Central Water Commission by December 9 2009 had not been submitted so far.
Dr Nalini Bhat, adviser in the MoEF also wrote to Avani Vaish, chief secretary in the Madhya Pradesh government, on October 1 2010 that the oustees had not been allotted agricultural land or the house plots as had been promised in their agreement with the state government.
The MP government, however, decided to bypass the MoEF and wrote directly to the secretary in the ministry of power requesting their support in getting the MoEF order reversed.
The letter stressed that the project had reached a stage where they should be allowed to start filling of the reservoir in three stages up to a height of 154 metres as this would not entail the submergence of either the habitat or the relocation of villages.
The letter also stressed that the project would be in a position to generate electricity within the next quarter.
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