Narmada Bachao Andolan on Sunday defended its position by asserting that the Madhya Pradesh government had misled the Supreme Court as a consequence of which, while passing the order on May 11 to uphold the land rights of the Omkareshwar dam oustees, the top court “wrongly” held that the NBA had falsely stated that the Omkareshwar dam oustees of five villages in Dewas district had been dispossessed without fulfilling the resettlement and rehabilitation norms.
The NBA would be filing a petition in the Supreme Court to get these remarks expunged. NBA has clarified its stand by stating that in its reply before the top court on August 31, 2010, they had submitted that even after the actual possession of land was taken away, the oustees were continuing to live and were using these properties as permitted by the 1999 decision of the Narmada Valley Development Authority. The Supreme Court made the comments against the NBA after the district judge Indore sent to the spot by the top court had found that the oustees were still living and cultivating there.
This issue was raised by the NBA at a press conference here on Sunday. Addressing journalists, senior NBA activists, Chittaroopa Palit and Alok Agarwal, expressed deep appreciation and welcomed the top court order to uphold the right of the Omkareshwar dam oustees to allotment of “land for land” with a minimum of two hectare of agricultural land.
The NBA activists said that the three-judge bench has brought on record that the state made no attempts to provide land to the oustees. Fifty-six per cent of them belonged to the STs. They went on to point out that the top court has also noted that only 11 per cent of the oustees were able to purchase land without any state assistance.