No Place Called Home

Meeting Sheikhji Bhai is not easy. He lives up in the hills and getting there by the nearest motorable road takes well over an hour. He will in all likelihood fly into a rage at the very mention of the word "government", but talk he will "of all that the government has done to make me and my family leave".

Originally a farmer who lived off the produce of the valley, Sheikhji Bhai, his wife and eight children were forced to move into the hills when their lands were inundated. They now live off the surrounding forest lands and say they are prepared to move higher up and cultivate on the hills if there is any further inundation.

For the 46-year-old recluse, it has been a lone battle. Till a year ago he had hardly heard of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which spearheads the anti-SSP agitation. Less still did he think of an organised protest. All he was certain of was that he wouldn't leave his native land. Faced with such stubbornness, the government has finally decided to "leave him alone". Says a senior rehabilitation officer: "We've almost given up If he doesn't know what's good for him, there's nothing we can do.

During the 1994 monsoons, when several villages were inundated, Sheikhji Bhai watched as the entire village of about 500 families migrated to resettlement sites. But since his family was the only one left in Gader--which was being projected as a model of successful evacuation--he obviously became the target of government ire. He recalls: "Sardar Sarovar Nigam officials came in motor boats and said we would regret it if we didn't move."

In July this year government personnel ransacked Sheikhji Bhai's newly-built shack. He says: "They took away all our utensils and the Rs 5,000 1 had saved for my daughter's marriage. When 1 still screamed that 1 would not leave, teargas shells were lobbed at us." Sheikhji Bhai approached the police, but was arrested. He was released later. The police, however, deny having taken the money or using teargas.

It is obvious that Sheikhji Bhai is bitter. But what the villagers and the NBA are questioning is the manner in which the rehabilitation agencies have been functioning.

Take the case of Dhansukhbhai Somchi, another inhabitant of the same village. Dhansukhbhai, 50, moved out from Gader along with the other villagers. Like many of the oustees from Gujarat, he was persuaded to believe that the dam would be useful. As he says, "1 fell for the dream."

But the dream proved shortlived. Dhansukhbhai's mission today is to return to his ancestral Land. Traditionally farmers, his family was first offered land in 1981. But for 10 years no alternative sites were found. It was only in 1993 that they agreed to move when they were promised pucca houses and land for cultivation.

However, soon after the monsoons arrived and Malu, the rehabilitation site, was flooded. "We could barely cook or eat, says Kailash Hen, Dhansukhbhai's wife. There were no toilet facilities and the lands provided did not yield returns.

Dhansukhbhai, who was forced to work as a manual labourer, raised the banner of revolt against the "tardy and ineffective rehabilitation schemes". On June 9 he led a group of 21 families--the largest instance of reverse migration in the valley--back to their native village. The government's version is different. Says Puroshottam Bhai Rupala, minister for Narmada affairs, water resources and irrigation: "The oustees of the Malu resettlement site were forced by NBA supporters to go back to Gader. Rehabilitation in Gujarat is complete."

But Medha Patkar, the leader of the antidam stir, says: "Gujarat was never fully involved with the agitation. Hence it is extremely significant that the people of Gujarat have spoken out against the condition in the resettlement sites. It just goes to prove that our claims were not hollow.

But open revolt has cost Dhansukhbhai dearly. On July 5, the same day that Sheikhji Bhai's house was looted, officials targeted the newly-built houses of Dhansukhbhai and the others who had returned to cader. The villagers say their belongings were forcibly taken back to Malu.

On July 10, when the oustees went to Malu to salvage some household goods left Sheikhji Bhai (above) and Dhansukhbhai Somchi are living a nightmare behind, they were arrested and detained for the night. Finally, on reaching Kevadia, the nearest town and the Nigam's nerve centre, the oustees decided to gherao the Nigam building till their articles were returned. Instead, the villagers were lathicharged.

Rupala, however, defends the incident. "The police in the districts have no means of identifying oustees or NBA supporters, he explains. "Incidentally, those arrested also turned out to be NBA supporters. They were creating law and order problems and had to be arrested and were later released."

Since July, the NBA has made various representations before NGOS and filed a case in the high court. The state oustees' representatives also met at Kothi, near Kevadia, two days after the July incidents and decided to return to their native villages. They now plan to launch a satyagraha. Rehabilitation officials are, however, tightlipped. All that R. Rajagopalan, rehabilitation commissioner, said was: "I will not speak."

However, Sheikhji Bhai's refusal to move out and Dhansukhbhai's bitter homecoming have exposed the hollowness of the state government's claim of having achieved total success in resettlement and rehabilitation. Much remains to be done before that claim can become fact.