Gandhinagar: Gujarat government today termed the Supreme Court decision in Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam project case as historic and said the State government will pay Rs 400 crore to the oustees of the Sardar Sarovar Proejct(SSP).

Reacting to the Supreme Court decision, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the project will soon complete thanks to today’s verdict. He said crores of people will benefit with added availability of irrigation and drinking water due to FRI level water storage in Narmada dam where the task of erection of gates has been already completed.

Patel said oustees will be paid upto Rs 30 lakh per hectare and Rs 60 lakh per two hectare. As many as 600 oustees of Madhya Pradesh will be benefited through this decision. Gujarat government will bear entire expense of Rs 350-400 crore. Oustees of narmada project will need to vacate the land by August 2017.

Patel added that 1300 oustees who are already paid compensation will be paid upto Rs 15 lakh. The payment already released in the past for them will be deducted.

Gujarat BJP welcomes the verdict:

Welcoming the Supreme Court decision in Sardar Sarovar project case, Gujarat BJP today said this is the most wonderful decision for the people of Gujarat and farmers here. Narmada project’s benefit will now reach Gujarat in totality and all obstructions on the way will go. With this decision by Supreme Court, anti-Gujarat people will not be able to stop Narmada project now anymore.

State BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said the displaced people will need to leave the area to be submerged in fix time frame and therefore top water level upto the height of the gates over the dam will be achieved. He said anti-Narmada project agitators and those against the interests of Gujarat were taking political benefits over the issue of Narmada.With full level of water in the dam, 1450 MW power will be generated which will benefit the nation. The rivers located in proximity of Narmada dam will no more remain dry and get sufficient water. This will also help environment.

Background:

It should be mentioned here that the Supreme Court today cleared the decks for monetary compensation for the oustees of the Sardar Sarovar Project by ordering Rs 60 lakh for each of the families which are likely to be displaced.

The bench observed that around 1,300 families, who have taken the money but have some dispute, can raise the demand of Rs 15 lakh which would be given after deducting money already paid to them. The apex court also asked Gujarat government to give money to Madhya Pradesh for further distribution through grievance redressal authority headed by a retired High Court judge. The order was confined to Madhya Pradesh as the maximum oustees were from the state.

To address the grievances of 681 such families, the Supreme Court also withdrew its proposal to set up a three-member committee of former apex court judges to look into the compensation and rehabilitation issue for the oustees of the project. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar ordered compensation of Rs 60 lakh per family for two hectares of land with an undertaking to be taken from them that they would vacate land within one month failing which the authorities would have the right to forcibly evict them.

As far as Maharashtra and Gujarat were concerned, the apex court said relief and rehabilitation work has to be completed within three months.

The bench, also comprising justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud, observed that the monetary compensation was considered as proposed land compensation was not feasible due to non-availability of land bank. Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which is leading the campaign for the oustees, was of the view that there was no good land that could have be given as compensation.

Advocate Sanjay Parikh advanced the arguments on behalf of NBA while Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and Additional Solicitor General P S Patwalia along with advocate C D Singh made submissions on behalf of Narmada Control Authority and Madhya Pradesh respectively.

Earlier in the day, before disposing of the application, the bench which has proposed a committee of retired Supreme Court judges V S Sirpurkar, K S Radhakrishnan and C Nagappan as its members to look into the compensation aspect, pulled up Medha Patkar-led NBA for trying to “stall” the project saying they wanted to take the government and court for “ransom”.

The bench observed that despite the fact that compensation to be given to the oustees of the project have been increased by almost four times, the NBA still wanted to stall it. “You see, they (government) are giving you four times the compensation and you still want to stall it,” it told Parikh. “When we say this, you say that. When we say that, you say this. You will get what the law says. They are giving you much more. You argue your matter. We will hear it and decide the matter as per the law,” the bench said.

The apex court further said, “You want to take the court for ransom. You want to take the government for ransom. You argue whatever you want, we will hear you and pass order.” The bench observed that now there was a “lot of dispute” over the settlement even after the compensation amount has been hiked. “You have got money but you continue to be the sufferers,” the apex court observed.

During the hearing, Patkar told the bench that when the villages have been vacated, then villagers have to be given place to stand. To this, the bench said, “They are giving money. They can take it and buy other land”.”It is up to you. Our job is to settle this issue in terms of the law. If law says you will remain there, we will say so,” the court told NBA’s counsel after which he started his arguments.

The issue of compensation will cover 193 villages in Madhya Pradesh, 33 in Maharashtra and 19 in Gujarat. The bench had said that it will ask the state governments to deposit the money in the apex court registry after the committee decides the issue.

Earlier, NBA had told the apex court that 192 villages and one township would be affected in Madhya Pradesh alone and about 45,000 affected people are yet to be rehabilitated. The Sardar Sarovar Project oustees, including thousands of Adivasis and farmers, have been waiting for land-based rehabilitation of many years, NBA had said. (with input from agencies)