“Man-made disaster”: Gujarat Congress demands SIT probe into flood-like situation in three districts

Ahmedabad: The Congress in Gujarat on Thursday demanded that a special investigation team (SIT) be formed to probe into the flood-like situation in three districts of the state after a huge amount of water was released from the Sardar Sarovar dam on September 17.

Calling the flood-like situation in parts of Narmada, Bharuch and Vadodara districts a “man-made disaster”, the opposition party has demanded an SIT to identify and punish those responsible for it.

A delegation led by state Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil and their legislative party leader in the assembly, Amit Chavda, on Thursday called on Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar over this issue and handed over a memorandum seeking his intervention.

Through the memorandum, the opposition party demanded that an SIT headed by a sitting or retired high court judge be formed to investigate this “man-made disaster” and to identify and punish officials behind it.

The Congress has alleged that excess water from the Sardar Sarovar dam, situated in Narmada district, was suddenly released into the Narmada river on September 17 instead of doing it gradually over days to “please Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday (on September 17)”.

Despite the rain data of the catchment areas of the Narmada river suggesting that the reservoir would receive a huge amount of water, the dam authorities “deliberately held back the water to ensure that it gets filled up on September 17”, said Congress in its memorandum.

The party further said that the officials at the dam then released a staggering 18 lakh cusecs of water downstream of the river by opening the gates shortly after Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel reached the site on the morning of September 17 to celebrate the occasion of the dam achieving capacity and wish the PM on his birthday.

According to the opposition party, the released water caused “enormous” damage to properties of lakhs of people, including shopkeepers, fishermen, local residents and farmers, living near the banks of the river in Narmada, Bharuch and Vadodara districts.

Terming the situation a “man-made disaster”, the Congress also demanded a special compensation package for the flood-affected residents in these districts. Though the BJP government has already announced a relief package for farmers and residents who incurred losses, the Congress said the compensation offered by the government is very less.

Alleging that the rule book was not followed in dam operations, the opposition party demanded that measures suggested by the World Bank, Morse Commission, and researchers of the Vadodara-based MS University be implemented to avoid such a situation in the downstream of the river.

The party also demanded that farmers, cattle-rearers, shopkeepers, families and other residents living close to the river bank downstream be declared “project-affected people” of the dam and considered eligible to get benefits like other PAPs.

The ruling BJP has already denied the allegation, claiming that a sudden influx of water into the dam, located near Ekta Nagar, in a span of 36 hours forced the authorities to release 18 lakh cusecs of water downstream.