Par Tapi Narmada Project Why Tribals Are Protesting Against This?

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Par-Tapi-Narmada

Par-Tapi-Narmada Link project proposes to transfer river water from the surplus regions of the Western Ghats to the deficit regions of Saurashtra and Kutch. It proposes to link three river
- Par originating from Nashik in Maharashtra and flowing through Valsad Gujarat
- Tapi originating from Satpuras flows through Maharashtra and Surat in Gujarat
- Narmada originating in Amarkantak in MP & flowing through Bharuch and Narmada districts in Gujarat

The Par-Tapi-Narmada link mainly includes the construction of seven dams (Jheri, Mohankavchali, Paikhed, Chasmandva, Chikkar, Dabdar and Kelwan), three diversion weirs (Paikhed, Chasmandva, and Chikkar dams), two tunnels, a 395-kilometre long canal and six powerhouses.
Of these, the Jheri dam falls in Nashik, while the remaining dams are in Valsad and Dang districts of South Gujarat.

Par Tapi Narmada link project was envisioned under the 1980 National Perspective Plan under the former Union Ministry of Irrigation and the Central Water Commission (CWC).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Gujarat, Maharashtra and the central government on May 3, 2010.
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project was prepared by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) in 2015 and modified on the intervention of the Gujarat government, through letters the then chief minister wrote in 2016.
- The Gujarat government in December 2016, proposed providing a pipeline system instead of open canals to “avoid/minimise the land acquisition in tribal areas” as well as to reduce evaporation and seepage losses.

According to a report by the NWDA, about 6065 ha of land area will be submerged due to the proposed reservoirs. A total of 61 villages will be affected, of which one will be fully submerged and the remaining 60 partly.
The total number of affected families would be 2,509 of which 98 families would be affected due to the creation of the Jheri reservoir, the only one in Maharashtra, spread over six villages.
The affected villages are located in Surgana and Peint talukas in Nashik and Dharampur taluka of Valsad, Vansda taluka of Navsari and Ahwa taluka of Dang districts in Gujarat.

NWDA Report
- “The affected families may lose their lands or houses or both in the submergence when the reservoirs are created. The affected families would be compensated for the loss of their lands and houses and those whose houses are submerged, would be resettled.”
The districts where the project will be implemented are largely dominated, by tribals who fear displacement. Three public meetings have already been organized by the tribals to protest the project.
The movement is backed by Samast Adivasi Samaj, Adivasi Samanvay Manch, Adivasi Ekta Parishad and Congress MLA Navsari Anant Patel.

In this year’s Union Budget FM Nirmala Sitharaman indicated the Centre’s renewed push for the river-linking project.
This announcement has the ruling BJP in Gujarat worried as the state goes to polls this year.
The BJP leaders of Gujarat say that if the river link project is not put on hold it will affect the party’s prospects in the upcoming assembly elections.

In the 2017 assembly election, the BJP won the tribal-dominated assembly seats of Kaprada, Dharampur, and Dang.
There are 28 seats in Gujarat reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Several BJP leaders from South Gujarat including MLAs from Valsad, Navsari and Dang have made representations to CM Bhupendra Patel about the anger among tribals.