Above: Broken, Silted Canals of under construction Pawai Project on Ken River in MP (SANDRP photo)
The Ken Yatra while going through the Panna district were told by Project Affected People that the Pawai Medium Irrigation Project (PMP) under construction is displacing the people without just compensation or rehabilitation.
The Ken Yatra observed that the construction work of the PMP is happening in full swing in Madhya Pradesh. The dam is being built at ‘Tendu Ghat’ on Ken River in Panna district to supply irrigation water to 9952 hectares (the board at the project site erroneously says it will irrigate 30 000 ha) of agricultural land falling in Pawai and Gunnor tehsils. The construction work also involves creation of a massive canal, including a few aqua-ducts on Ken river and its tributaries.
The canal passes through Surro (about 6 km Downstream from the dam), Pipriya Doun (about 12 km D/S), Simradur (about 18 km D/S), Boda (about 22 km D/S), Jaipal Nagar (about 24 km D/S) and other villages. Tribals of Surro and Villagers of Simra Bahadur told the Yatra that they are being displaced by the canal construction without proper compensation and rehabilitation.
The Project Affected People narrated that the project proponents and contractor are evicting the villagers forcefully. Last week, they said, about 18 houses in Simra Bahadur Basti were demolished. There are around 38 houses in the village. About 23 villagers were partially compensated and 15 were asked to vacate the village without any relief. Villagers alleged several irregularities in execution of canal work and corruption in distribution of compensation.
As per them the alignment of canal is different from survey done decades back and paltry compensation is given to villagers affected by canal construction as per that survey whereas the construction is happening on un-surveyed land and the actual affected are being chased out of their homes without any relief.
Simra Bahadur affected villagers narrated how they have been going pillars to post and some how have managed to stop canal work for the time being. The Simra Bahadur canal work affected villagers were already displaced in 2005 flood and they are being displaced second time in a decade. They showed us documents as well of having given complaints to local authorities and also the representation during hearings for the Project that sadly took place in Panna, 80 kms away from their homes. Their desperation was evident in their voices.
Villagers also feel that the project has made the area more flood prone as the aqua-duct built about 3 km D/S from the dam has inadequate passage for the Ken River Floods. The floods in the upstream have already worsened considerably since the construction of the aqua-duct. This is worrying everyone, including those who hope to get irrigation benefit from the project.
Similarly, people of Pipriya Doun village complain that canal work is happening on irrigated land and they are being given compensation fixed for unirrigated land which is almost half the rate for irrigated land.
A villager of Surro also reported that they are living in forest land for decades and affected by canal work but are not being compensated at all. They have not been given any right as per the Forest Right Act.
The cracked / broken canal could be seen near the aqueduct being built around Boda village and elsewhere. The local landscape appears to have gone through an immense change due to PMP work. The aqueduct might be ready in another couple of months according to those present there, but no one knows when the water will arrive.
Submergence area The Pandheriya village located hardly two hundred meter upstream of the dam site is living in continuous hazardous condition created by construction company (Sarthi). Worst noise and air pollution is happening there.
Ken Yatra Participants (Contact: ht.sandrp@gmail.com)
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KEY ISSUES/ VIOLATIONS:
- EIA-EMP of the project are not in public domain. An internet search led to following links:
Hindi Executive Summary of EIA: http://www.mppcb.nic.in/pdf/531-English&hindi/531-Hindi.pdf
English Executive summary of EIA: http://www.mppcb.nic.in/pdf/531-English&hindi/531English.pdf (LINK NOT WORKING)
Full EIA-EMP NOT AVAILABLE.
- The Public hearing report found: http://www.mppcb.nic.in/pdf/531-PAWAI-MEDIUM123.pdf. However, This provides names of only ten persons and some comments by them, not even list of all those present. If only ten persons were present, that reflects VERY POORLY about the public hearing. Not giving all names is clear violation of EIA notification.
- COMPLIANCE REPORTS NOT AVAILABLE: The project proponent was supposed to submit compliance reports every six months from date of Environment Clearance 27.11.2014, so there should have been at least six or seven compliance reports, but there is none. Similarly, there is NO MONITORING REPORT about this project either, on the http://evironmentclearance.nic.in/.
- The Pre Qualification Tenders for the Dam of this project was floated 31 May, 2012, long before either the environment clearance was issues (27.11.2014) or final forest clearance letter was issues (10.09.2014), in complete violation of EIA notification, Environment Protection Act and Forest Conservation Act.
- The Canal passes through the forest land, but the project has still not applied for forest clearance for the forest land required for the Canals. This is also in violation of the Forest Conservation Act.
- Even with respect to the Forest Clearance, the project is supposed to submit annual compliance report, but the forest clearance website for this project has NO COMPLIANCE REPORTS, again in violation of the Forest Clearance.
- The Fact Sheet about the project says: “The project does not involve displacement of any person.” This is complete lie, with hundreds of ha of land being taken for the submergence and the amount of land required for the canals, colony, roads, mining, dumping of muck, drainage, etc. is not even mentioned anywhere in the documents.
- The project should have sought Wildlife clearance from Chief Wildlife Warden of Madhya Pradesh because the project will seriously, adversely affect the water flow into the Panna Tiger Reserve. But unfortunately, neither the project has sought such a clearance, nor got, at least there is no information about this in public domain. This should also have been a consideration in the forest clearance and also should have been mentioned in the EIA.
- No Rehabilitation Plan in public domain.
- As recorded in the minutes of the Technical Advisory Committee meeting of Ministry of Water Resources on 30.09.2016, whose clearance is necessary before starting a project, the project work started BEFORE getting TAC clearance. The committee expressed its displeasure with a warning that no future Major and Medium project will be undertaken without TAC clearance. The TAC clearance also warned that the project will be completed by March 2018, as cost and B:C ratio is valid only till that date. The project has clearly violated that condition.
- Since the project displaces Schedule Tribe population, an approval of the R&R plan from Ministry of Tribal Affairs is necessary, but it is not clear if any such approval has been obtained.
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KEY DATES:
PRE-QUALIFICATION TENDER NOTICE FOR DAM: 31.05.2012
ENVIRONMENT CLEARANCE:
Public hearing date: 31.01.2014
SEAC meeting where the project was discussed and recommended clearance: 27.09.2014
SEIAA meeting where the project was discussed and recommended for clearance: 28.10.2014
Date of EC: 27.11.2014
Forest Clearance:
Site Inspection Report date: 14.05.2012
FAC considered it on: 04.09.2012/ 01.2013
Received for Stage I FC: 10.01.2013
Stage I Forest Clearance: 22.02.2013
Final FC: 10.09.2014
Accepted by CWC Advisory Committee: 30.09.2016.
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SALIENT FEATURES:
River: Ken
Dam location: Pandheria Village, Shahnagar Tehsil, Panna District, Madhya Pradesh (105 km from Panna)
Dam Height: 37 m
Dam Length: 806 m, including 632 m earthen dam and 174 m concrete dam
Catchment area: 995 sq km
Avg Rainfall: 1189 mm
Design flood: 5862 Cumecs
FRL: 339.5 m
MWL: 340.5 m
75% Dependable yield: 217.99 MCM
Submergence at FRL: 1790.85 Ha
Submergence at MWL: 2000 Ha
Forest Land in submergence: 238.36 ha
Number of trees in submergence area: 9084 (above 15 cm girth)
No of villages in submergence area: 18
Project Affected Families: (Submergence alone): 540
Pvt land of schedule Caste people going in submergence: 57.28 ha
Pvt land of Schedule Tribe people going in submergence: 226.07 ha
Total Pvt Land in submergence: 621 ha
Govt revenue land in submergence: 931.49 ha
Gross Storage capacity: 123.8 MCM
Live Storage Capacity: 108.45 MCM
Water allocated to the dam: 100.99 MCM
Water Allocated for irrigation: 45.99 MCM
Water for industry and drinking: 35.67
Area to be irrigated: 9952 ha in 37 villages ONLY FOR RABI CROP
CANALS: 13.172 km feeder canal; 12.49 km Right Main Canal: 14.95 km Left Main Canal; 12 Minors with total length of 41 km
COST: Rs 261.54 crores (2009 Price Level)
SANDRP 
A wonderful construction at Panna district.
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