Prabhubhai Tadvi

There were hyenas and tigers here also, at Waghadia. But since the Kevadia colony was built, the jungles/forests have reduced slowly. There has been deforestation. Contractors have cut the jungles. As and when required for their employees, they would cut the forest and expand the (Kevadia) colony. Thus, the jungle decreased…but in those days, there was a lot of forest cover. Our cattle used to graze in the forest also. There were no restrictions back then. But nowadays it’s just plantations. And people  used to get very good fish from the river in those days. Different variety of fish was available back then. In those days only net and basket traps were used. People catch shrimps differently. People made bamboo traps and used these to catch shrimps. Fish was available in plenty during the rainy season, particularly the shrimps. But it is not the same nowadays…The silt (from the river) used to spread on our farm during monsoon and this turned the land new again and the productivity of all crops was high. But now, when the dam has been constructed, all the silt is trapped behind the dam wall and there is soil erosion every year now…

Prabhubhai Tadvi

Prabhubhai Tadvi, one of the tallest leaders of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, it was from his home in village Waghadia near the dam site, right in the midst of the bastion of the dam builders that the NBA office functioned for the longest time. For this, Prabhubhai and his family faced unprecedented pressure and intimidation by the state. Often, Prabhubhai’s home would be surrounded by hundreds of police and he would face home arrest. And yet, Prabhubhai remained undeterred and fought fearlessly against the dam in Gujarat, in the state where even a significant part of the civil society considered the Sardar Sarovar dam as the state’s lifeline. All the lands of Prabhubhai’s village Waghadia except the temple lands were acquired for the Sardar Sarovar Project Colony,  the Kevadia Colony in 1961 itself. And the people have been living on the periphery of their acquired lands since then, without rehabilitation. Prabhubhai, in his narrative here talks of the life of his people in his village Waghadia on the banks of the Narmada River before their lives were disrupted with the coming of the Sardar Sarovar dam and Kevadia Colony.

The photos in this clip are in and around Waghadia, Kevadia Colony and some photos are of areas further upstream and downstream of the Dam. 

Interview Duration:
00:43:44

Language:
Hindi , Subtitles in English

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