The oustees saw little gain in being cut off from their roots when the power generated from the project would go to homes in the city. The government, however, has other things to consider. Madhya Pradesh will get 57 per cent (826.5 MW) of the electricity from the project against Gujarat’s 16 per cent, all the more precious as the last Congress regime lost the elections solely on the bijli-sadak-pani plank.

The NBA calls it a conspiracy between two states and a step taken by MP under pressure because it has to build five major dams and several medium and small dams across the Narmada. “They are inhuman, insensitive and callous,” says NBA activist Ashish Mandloi, who identifies himself among the project-affected (PAF). The NBA points out that the MP government’s offer of cash compensation is in violation of the Supreme Court order which lays down the “land for land” formula. It also accuses the government of forcing the affected to accept cash.

The state government dismisses the allegations as “propaganda”. Commissioner (Rehabilitation) Vinod Kumar says: “Why hasn’t any PAF filed a single case with the Grievance Redressal Authority that the state government is forcing oustees to accept cash compensation?’’ he says, adding bigger resettlement sites are taking shape in Dharampur and Nisarpur.

The state believes it has the backing of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) which has accepted its action taken report (ATR). “Had we not been satisfied with the relief and rehabilitation work, why would we have submitted the ATR?’’ says Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) chairman A V Singh.

... contd.