7) Jobat Dam Jobat Project( Shaheed Chandra Shekar Azad Sagar) was completed in the year 2007-08 on River Hathni( a tributary of Narmada on right bank) in Jhabua Distt. It will irrigate agriculture land in Dhar distt. The estimated cost of the project was Rs. 166.43 Crores. The project envisages construction of a 38.60 m high and 462.50 m long composite gravity dam. The main canal of length 29.73 km is on the left bank. The area to be irrigated will be 9848 ha., with the proposed annual irrigation going up to 12,507 ha., according to the DPR of the Project. The Project has no power generation component. The reservoir lake is spread over in an area of about 13.10 sq. km and creates a storage of 77.84 M Cum. 13 villages of Jhabua district are partially affected from the submergence of the project. Out of total submergence of 1310.09 hectares of land getting submerged, 798.49 ha of private land, 388.38 ha of Govt. land and 123.22 ha of Forest land is affected. 909 families displaced from the project have been rehabilitated in Umda, Chhoti Khattali, Machalia, Waskal and Bhiti villages as per State Rehabilitation Policy. The command area lies in 27 villages of the Kukshi block of Dhar district. The topography of the command area is highly undulating.
Project Affected families entitled to rehabilitation, as per the MP rehabilitation policy for Narmada Projects. Amongst the adivasis from Alirajpur district who had deposed before the IIP Tribunal, alleging legal and human rights violations and raising serious issues with regard to rehabilitation of a few thousand project affected and environmental non-compliance. In their complains, people alleged that the land acquisition for Jobat was carried out using misinformation, force, deceit and intimidation i. e. in violation of the accepted human rights standards and without following the PESA Act. People also pointed out that due to faulty surveys, more land than stated has actually been submerged and there may be further submergence. Many lands and houses have also become marooned and are facing acute difficulties, particularly during the monsoon period. Ill-planned canals are also causing water logging and salinization in the nearby villages and also increasing the risk of vectorborne diseases such as malaria. The Collector’ s survey in 2008 reaffirmed all these flaws. GRA, though it has claimed can only address individual grievances, has not done anything effectively, people have told.
Editor- Sujit Choudhury, Published by Girija
Sankar Chattopadhay, IRBMS, assisted by C S
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Integrated River Basin Management Society