According to activists installation of gates at Gujarat's Sardar Sarovar Dam will submerge 193 villages in Madhya Pradesh and 19 in Gujarat.
In Dharmapuri village of Madhya Pradesh more than 700 houses in 11 wards along the Narmada river are bracing for the worst. The Narmada Control Authority has given a nod to installation of gates at the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat, which would increase its capacity by two-third and Narmada's water level by 17 meters to 138 meters. According to Narmada Bachao Andolan activists this will submerge 193 villages in Madhya Pradesh and 19 in Gujarat.
But many residents of Dharmapuri have refused to vacate their houses which during the monsoon is flooded as it is in low-lying area. 50-year-old Laxmi Bai's house was washed away by the river last monsoon but she chose to reconstruct it on the same spot even though the state government had given her a plot a few kilometers away as part of a rehabilitation package.
"We are ready to relocate on the condition that the government gives a better plot. The plot allotted to us villagers is on black soil, and it is marshy... it will be quite expensive to build a house... also we were supposed to get some compensation for livelihood as part of the rehabilitation package which we have not got yet," Laxmi Bai told NDTV.
About 50 kms from Dharmapuri village in Chota Vardha village of Dhar district, the battle is for compensation. The farmers, with land on low lying areas say that the compensation offered to them is mere one-fifth of the prevailing market rate.
Deepak Mandloi has been fighting this for almost two decades now. He has 40 acres, of which 25 will be inundated as the water level is raised. He approached the Supreme Court which ruled in his favor and asked the Narmada Valley Development Authority to provide him fertile land within three months. But he claims it has been two years and NVDA has not yet acted on it.
"Either the government should give us compensation at Rs 25 lakhs per acre, the prevailing the market rate or we should be given land for land compensation," he said.
While there is dissent over the Centre's decision, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh tweeted a word of assurance, "No need to panic. There is ample time and precaution is built in the procedure to be adopted. The construction will take more than 36 months."
But the chief minister also tweeted that he welcomed the decision and the rehabilitation work corresponding to the water level of 138 meters which has already been done by his government in 2008 itself.
However, there is criticism too. Congress MLA from Rajpur, Bala Bacchan told NDTV, "What CM Shivraj has tweeted is wrong, there may be political reasons for it that he and his team has accepted this decision, because his PM has decided so he is tweeting..."
Meanwhile the Narmada Bachao Andolan activists who have been vocally protesting the increase of water level of Narmada are crying foul and strategising their next move. Activist Meera told NDTV, "This decision should be taken back as it has not been taken by NCA but it is a political decision and legal steps have not been followed. Also claims by officials that this will provide irrigation water to lakhs of acres of land is wrong as in Gujarat only about 30 per cent of canals have been constructed till now."