The facts speak

One of the major concerns voiced by the Narmada Bachao Andolan NBA in their extended agitation earlier this year has been seriously pursued. The report of the V.K. Shunglu Committee to look into the relief and rehabilitation provided to those displaced by the Sardar Sarovar project has been supported not just by the inquiries conducted done by the three persons comprising the committee, but by teams from the National Sample Survey Organisation. The exercise lends clarity to an issue that has been befuddled by a high-decibel public campaign. The submission of the report should signify an end to the benighted Narmada controversy that an India in desperate need of both water and power can ill afford.

The Shunglu Committee report has not been made public. But it appears to have suggested that while rehabilitation is far from perfect, it is nowhere as bad as that made out by NBA8217;s activists and compulsive do-gooders, and is amenable to correction given some committed governmental action. The important point is that those who opted for cash compensation have got it, and a fairly accurate estimation of those who say they have been unfairly left out of the compensation package has been arrived at. Earlier reporting by this newspaper, and independent surveys of other NGOs operating in the area, suggest that the data on both submergence and compensation have been overblown by the NBA. In some instances, dam oustees who were prepared to settle for the government8217;s rehabilitation package were strongly dissuaded by NBA activists from doing so. It is such anomalies that necessitated an objective assessment of the kind made by the Shunglu Committee. Good, effective rehabilitation requires to be supported by accurate data and objective analysis. The irresponsible courting of cheap popularity that Union Water Minister Saifuddin Soz indulged in last April is certainly not helpful in such a context.

The Shunglu Committee report will now be submitted to the Supreme Court, which has lent clarity to the issue by cutting through the 8220;noise8221; over the dam project and allowing work on the dam to continue, even while upholding the principle of credible relief and rehabilitation. For this enlightened position, the country8217;s highest court deserves our gratitude. We have said this before and we will say it again, the Sardar Sarovar project is far too important to be held hostage to misguided activism and high-profile protests.