The shallowness in the thought process of social activist critic Medha Patkar
is so apparent in the paragraph, "Referring to the proposed creation of three
more towns to expand the Guwahati metropolitan area, she said that shopping
malls and highways should not be the yardstick to measure development. The
development approach should also take into consideration the issues like how
many people are going to be displaced and how many people are getting their
livelihood affected by such projects."
Anyone who visited Guwahati in recent times knows how congested Guwahati has
become. Spreading the population to three more urban areas would surely improve
the quality of life. Shopping malls and highways are not the primary reasons
for the new plan, Guwahatians know well. As a part of the redistribution of
people and enterprise, if such facilities are needed, they will definitely
emerge as the secondary need.
Does Ms. Patkar know how to make an omelette without breaking an egg?
Dilip Deka
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Corporate houses will own rivers: Patkar
By Ajit Patowary
GUWAHATI, June 18 Narmada Bachao Andolan-fame social activist Medha Patkar
today warned that if the proposed projects for linking the rivers were to be
materialized, ownership of the rivers would go to the corporate houses. She
also alleged that the planners of the country had been distorting peoples
priorities for development planning.
Patkar, also the convenor of the National Alliance of Peoples Movements
(NAPM), was speaking to The Assam Tribune on the sidelines of the two-day
national dialogue on environment and sustainable development organized by the
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti in the city since yesterday.
Explaining her assertions, she said that while planning water resources
projects drinking water should be the first priority. Even in agricultural
sector, priority should be attached to one crop protection. Wherever there is
drought, we must provide water for one crop protection. But rules for such
distributive justice are not formulated.
Many states are changing their water policies to attach higher priority to
industrial use of water than the use of this resource in agriculture. This is
why, hydro power is getting the top most priority wherever water resources are
plenty, she said.
Similarly, though ground water recharge should get the top most priority so far
as ground water is concerned, we are allowing the water to run away. The
bottling of water by big capital is also given higher priority and the bottling
plants are given subsidies. Each of the bottling plants is drawing between 5
lakh and 25 lakh litres of water per day.
The rivers are also given to the corporate houses. If the interlinking of
rivers comes true, corporate houses will be given the right over our rivers as
they will invest for the projects that require an estimated amount of around Rs
5,60,000 crore, she said.
On the present development activities in the country, she said that much of
them were based on corruption and misuse of resources. However, she clarified
that resources should not exclusively mean financial resources and these should
include also the natural resources.
Natural resources are a kind of capital. This capital is misused in the sense
that instead of fulfilling the need of the people, it is used to satiate the
greed of the elite class, which includes the politicians, the bureaucrats, the
contractors and the corporate houses. Though there are alternative paths to use
these resources, priorities are distorted, she said.
Later, addressing a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club, she said that
Governments development plans in NE region had been adding to the sufferings
of the regions people. Not the Armed forces alone, the Governments plans are
also creating havoc for the people here, she claimed, even as she demanded
repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act.
The people here are opposing the mega dams proposed in the region, as, while
conceiving them they were not consulted and their informed consent was not
taken when some of them were implemented. But the projects are pushed ahead,
she said, adding, the regions own power demand would be around 7,000 MW at the
most.
She also suggested that going by the recommendations of the World Commission on
Dams, water from the catchments should be tapped before its reaching the major
rivers. This will make mega dams and the river interlinking projects redundant
if at all the Government has the resolve to save the people from floods, she
said.
She, however, observed that measures to control flood control and erosion in
the region had been getting less priority from the state Governments of the
region and also from the Union Government.
The latest move to conduct a seismic survey in the Brahmaputra riverbed for
mineral oil exploration betrays further the attitude of the Union Government
towards the people of the region.
This survey will affect the entire system of the Brahmaputra and also the
ecology and people of the valley, she said.
While dealing with the natural resources of the NE region there should be a
holistic approach and this approach should be sensitive to both ecology and the
human beings, she asserted.
Referring to the proposed creation of three more towns to expand the Guwahati
metropolitan area, she said that shopping malls and highways should not be the
yardstick to measure development. The development approach should also take
into consideration the issues like how many people are going to be displaced
and how many people are getting their livelihood affected by such projects.
But the draft master plan for the city has not taken into consideration all
these issues, she said, adding, displacement had increased by five to ten times
in the country during the past few years.
Flood and erosion expert Prof D K Mishra also spoke on the occasion.
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