INDIA: The people who are paying the price for economic progress

By Pratap Chatterjee Reprint | | Print |

PRATAP CHATTERJEE

SINGRAULI, INDIA, Feb 19 1995 (IPS) - ELECTRICITY ARRIVED IN CHILKANAND, A SLUM OF 20,000 PEOPLE, LAST SEPTEMBER, FOUR YEARS AFTER AN ELECTRIC LINE WAS INSTALLED. BUT A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER THE CONNECTION WAS CUT OFF AND HAS NOT YET BEEN RESTORED.

AT NIGHT, HOWEVER, THE AREA IS NOT ALL DARK. THE SKY IS LIT UP BY FIVE GIANT SUPERTHERMAL PLANTS, RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT-OWNED NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION (NTPC), ONE OF THE LARGEST SUPPLIERS OF ELECTRICITY IN THIS COUNTRY.

THE IRONY OF BEING WITHOUT ELECTRICITY IN AN AREA WHERE ELECTRICITY IS GENERATED IS GREATER FOR THE SLUM DWELLERS BECAUSE EVERY ONE OF THEM WAS EVICTED FROM THEIR HOMES TO MAKE WAY FOR THE POWER PLANTS AND THE ACCOMPANYING COAL MINES THAT SUPPLY THEM.

THE NTPC PLANT SMOKESTACKS DOMINATE THE SKYLINE OF THIS SLUM IN SINGRAULI, A SPRAWLING INDUSTRIAL AREA CARVED OUT OF THE DENSE FORESTS OF UTTAR PRADESH IN THE NORTH AND MADHYA PRADESH IN CENTRAL INDIA, OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS.

OVER 150,000 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DISPLACED, MANY FIVE TIMES OVER, TO MAKE WAY FOR THESE PLANTS AND THE COAL MINES. “WHEN THE GOVERNMENT TALKS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT, NOW IN FACT THEY TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, TELL US WHAT ARE THEY DOING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE?” SAYS K.C. SHARMA, A LOCAL ACTIVIST.

“THERE IS NO WORK FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY HAVE LOST THEIR AGRICULTURAL LANDS AND THERE ARE FEW JOBS IN THE POWER PLANTS.

“WORST OF ALL THERE IS NO PLACE IN INDIA WHERE THE WATER AND AIR IS MORE POLLUTED,” SAYS SHARMA, WHO HAS BEEN RESETTLED FIVE TIMES IN THE LAST THREE DECADES TO MAKE WAY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN THE REGION.

THE MYSTERY OF THE SHORT-LIVED CONNECTION TO THE POWER GRID WAS CLEARED UP WHEN SLUM DWELLERS DISCOVERED THAT A TEAM OF OFFICIALS FROM THE WASHINGTON-BASED WORLD BANK, WHICH IS LENDING MONEY TO NTPC FOR NEW POWER PLANTS, WAS VISITING.

AS PART OF A NEW 400 MILLION DOLLARS LOAN PACKAGE TO EXPAND THE POWER PLANTS BY 2,000 MW, APPROVED IN 1992, BANK OFFICIALS HAVE SAID THAT LIVING CONDITIONS IN CHILKANAND, AND VARIOUS OTHER RESETTLEMENT SITES, MUST BE IMPROVED.

TOWARDS THIS GOAL, A NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON RESETTLEMENT WAS CALLED IN NOVEMBER. THIS WAS THE REASON WHY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HAD CAME FROM DELHI, THE CAPITAL OF INDIA, AND BANK OFFICIALS FROM THEIR HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON DC.

BECAUSE OF THIS WORKSHOP, NTPC OFFICIALS PERSUADED THE STATE ELECTRICITY AUTHORITIES TO TURN ON THE POWER IN CHILKANAND AND HURRIEDLY SET ABOUT FIXING THE 28 HAND PUMPS THAT HAD BEEN INSTALLED IN THE SLUM.