Over 250000 people are to be displaced in the 245 submergence villages by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) and an equal number are to be severely impacted due to project related infrastructure. The following clips excerpted from longer interviews touch upon the disruption in the lives of the Project Affected People as a result of the SSP. Different narratives here provide glimpses of the different impacts of development induced displacement. These narratives bring out how the Government of Gujarat’s claim of having executed the best rehabilitation in the world of those ousted by SSP is not true.
The narratives also show the impact of submergence on the ecology of the area, forests, fauna and flora.
It is rightly said by Dr. S.B. Ota of Archaeological Survey of India: ‘We prefer to relocate the structural remains but do not care to preserve buried and surface archaeological sites which are less impressive but equally or more important for providing information about our earliest cultures.’ One of the narratives here gives glimpses of the impact submergence has had on the archeologically rich Narmada Valley.
Shanker (bhai) Kagda
Resettlement Site Dharampuri, Gujarat
Shanker Kagda, a senior adivasi leader of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), belonged to the very first submergence village Vadgam close to the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat. Shankerbhai talks of the attitude of the state towards the Project Affected People in Gujarat and the losses they faced due to illegal submergence.
Clip Duration: 00:01:30
Usha (ben) Tadvi
Resettlement Site Dharampuri, Gujarat
Ushaben Tadvi, a Project Affected Person from one of the nineteen submergence villages of Gujarat close to the dam explains in the two clips from her two interviews taken in the years 2009 and once again, 14 years later in the year 2023, the impact of displacement on women and how women have never really felt rehabilitated in the resettlement sites. This is a unique recording and sharing of the voice of an oustee displaced in 1994, interviewed in 2009 and once again in 2023. The interviwer was present in 1994 during her forced eviction also.
1st Clip Duration: 00:06:12
2nd Clip Duration 0:05:00
Language: Audio in Gujarati, Subtitles in English
Kevalsingh Vasave
Vadchil Resettlement site, Maharashtra
Kevalsingh Vasave, a firebrand full time adivasi activist of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), belonging to the village Nimgavan, one of the 33 submergence villages of Maharashtra narrates the incident of the dam waters having entered and submerged his home permanently and the impact it has had on his life.
Clip Duration: 00:03:03
Language: Audio in Marathi, Subtitles in English
Pervi
Village Jalsindhi, Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
A senior adivasi leader of Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangathan and Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), Pervibai explains in her language the devastation the Sardar Sarovar dam has caused by choking the River Narmada and the impact it has had on the people and ecology.
Clip Duration: 0:01:30
Language: Audio in Bhilali, Subtitles in English
Rehmat
Submergence Village Chikhalda, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
Rehmat, a resident of the submergence village Chikhalda in M.P., has been one of the senior full time activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). This is a short clip from Rehmat’s ten hour long interview where he explains the impact Sardar Sarovar Dam will have on the archeologically rich Narmada River Valley.
Clip Duration: 0:02:01
Language: Audio in Hindi, Subtitles in English
Shanta (ben) Yadav
Submergence Village Pipri, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
Shantaben Yadav is one of the key woman leaders of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Here Shantaben in a short clip from her interview explains why the SSP is being opposed by the people of the Narmada valley.
Clip Duration: 00:01:53
Language: Audio in Nimadi, Subtitles in English
Champa (ben) Tadvi
Submergence Village Vadgam, Gujarat
Resettlement site Dharampuri, Gujarat
I was a witness to the forcible displacement of Champaben Tadvi in the year 1994 from her village Vadgam, the first to submerge in the Sardar Sarovar dam, out of the total of 245 villages. Champaben and her family were forcibly evicted by police from their village and were offloaded with their houses and goods from trucks at Dharampuri resettlement site near Dabhoi, Vadodara also in Gujarat. The two clips here are a small part of her interviews taken in the year 2009, 13 years after her displacement from Vadgam and once again in 2023, 28 years after her displacement from Vadgam.
In these two clips together, Champaben covers an in-depth history of over three decades in the life of an adivasi woman, a victim of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and her struggles for survival.
1s Clip Duration: 01:15:00
2nd Clip Duration: 0:28:20
Language: Gujarati, Subtitles in English