You must be aware of the Sardar Sarovar Project embroiled in the controversy over last 25 years. The project has now reached a critical juncture with 2 lakh (200,000) people still in the submergence area while the authorities who are monitoring social and environmental measures have been reporting non-compliance. The cost and benefits are being questioned by various authorities and organizations, while the Planning Commission has recently given a revised investment clearance of Rs. 39,000 crores. Read more
The people in the Narmada Valley questioning the various aspects of the project were to be urgently heard and the ground level situation reviewed with various official and non official documents, since the political demand for raising the dam height to completion, erecting 17 mts. high gates is being made with enormous pursuance at the highest echelons. The canals of Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar that are being excavated in the Sardar Sarovar affected region have also been under scrutiny and become a matter of debate both in the court and outside.
It is in this context that the Independent People’s Tribunal brought together a panel of eminent persons led by Former Chief of Delhi High Court, Justice A.P. Shah, Shri. Devindra Sharma, prominent agriculture policy analyst and Prof. Jaya Sagade, Faculty at the Indian Law Society, Pune. The Panel visited the various villages in the dam and canal affected areas on 2nd June and heard hundreds of people in the presence of thousands of people in Badwani on 3rd June. A large number of documents and memoranda submitted and available to the panelists were used/ analyzed for further investigation.
The Award of this People’s Tribunal on Sardar Sarovar, ISP, OSP canals and another major dam Jobat will be pronounced and read out by Justice A.P. Shah and other panelists, in the presence of representatives of various organizations and eminent persons from Bhopal, including Shri. S.C. Behar (Former Chief Secretary, Madhya Pradesh), Shri. Bharat Chapparwal (former Vice chancellor Rani Durgavati University) and hri L.S Hardenia (National Secular Forum) on 24th June at Gandhi Bhavan, Bhopal.
Adv. Shubhra (Ph: 9009106297)
Adv.Colin Gonsalves
Adv. Mohsin Khan
Medha Patkar
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