Submergence village Vadgam, Resettlement Site Dharampuri, Gujarat.
~2 minutes
Shanker Kagda, a senior leader of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), belonged to village Vadgam just upstream of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the first village in Gujarat to be submerged by its waters.
Shankerbhai and the other adivasi families of Vadgam fought steadfastly against the project conglomerate and the unprecedented pressure exerted by the state of Gujarat to move them out of their homes and village without proper resettlement. Vadgam’s struggle against the dam with Shankerbhai in its forefront is historic because the scheduled tribe residents of the village waged their struggle right at the foot of the huge overbearing dam. Shankerbhai also led the struggle of oustees of Gujarat belonging to other villages from the submergence zone.
The following clip is a short excerpt from Shankerbhai’s six-hour long interview. In this clip he talks about how submergence was imposed on his village and its people by the state of Gujarat. He talks of the attitude of the state towards the project affected people in Gujarat and the losses they faced due to the illegal submergence caused by the state.
Clip Duration:
00:01:30
Language:
Audio in Gujarati, Subtitles in English
Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video