SUBMERGENCE VILLAGE CHIKHALDA, MADHYA PRADESH
We used to collect cow dung in the village when people came in their bullock carts to the Narmada River to take a dip. We used to collect the dung and sell it. We had collected 150-200 rupees by collecting dung and we had bought a new cycle with that money. We went to school on that bicycle. We used to go to bathe three times in a day and take a dive into the river in search of coins (offered in reverence by people to the Narmada River while crossing the river), and with those coins, we used to buy books and notebooks or watch some films…
Mahesh Sharma
Mahesh, one of the dedicated full time activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), was active when the movement was at its peak and was at a receiving end of state repression. Mahesh lived with the people of Manibeli, the first village to submerge in the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the main centre of the NBA for several years. He was also stationed later in one of the upstream adivasi villages, Domkhedi when NBA’s satyagraha centre shifted further up. As a result, Mahesh faced police repression and was jailed a number of times. He remained a pillar of support to the adivasis of the submergence villages in Maharashtra, the back bone of the NBA in the struggle against the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Mahesh is an oustee himself and his village Chikhalda, was one of the strong holds of the NBA. Chikhalda, a bastion of the NBA was culturally a very diverse village. Chikhalda now submerged and destroyed in the Sardar Sarovar Dam had beautiful temples, mosque and even a very old Derasar. None of these religious places were relocated by the government when these submerged in the dam waters. Worse still, there is no documentation of these significant places. Mahesh in his emotional short clip here talks about his family that was assigned with the duty of being temple priests from the time of the Holkar state at Village Chikhalda. The bond that people share with their lands and the Narmada River can be clearly understood from this short clip.
The photos in the clip are those of the historical Rajghat bridge Mahesh talks about near his village and its gradual submergence in the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The other photos are of the temples that submerged in Chikhalda due to the dam and emerged out of the reservoir when the waters in the dam reduced drastically in 2020.
Some of the photos in the clip are taken by Golu Sen and Rehmat, also residents of Chikhalda.
The quality of the voice in this clip is not very clear as this interview was recorded on a mini-disk recorder.
Interview Duration:
0:08:52
Language:
Hindi , Subtitles in English
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