THE STORY OF HUMAN DAM: 37 YRS, Rs211CR SPENT, OVER 8,807% COST ESCALATION. BUT......NOT A SINGLE BRICK LAID

Nagpur: A cement plaque with its faded letters stands tall in dense jungle of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). At some distance, an old colony of irrigation officials lies in a complete shambles with shrubs grown all over after its dwellers left in 1985. Now, it looks like a haunted place with dilapidated houses and old vehicles with no human presence.
Both are remnants of Human river project on Wainganga-Godavari basin, one of the biggest dams in Vidarbha. Conceived in 1982-83 at just Rs33.68 crore, currently its cost is pegged at Rs3,000 crore, a staggering escalation by over 8,807.36%. Still, there are no signs of its revival in near future.

Nearly 37 years later, it’s yet to see the light of the day, primarily due to failure of Union and state forest ministries to grant clearance on account of its proximity to TATR, just 3.5km away. Today, the project, which would have directly benefited over a lakh populace across 160 villages in the drought-hit Vidarbha region, is a perfect example of absolute apathy and neglect.

In 1982-83, its foundation stone was laid by then Union minister Rajesh Pilot along with local MLA Yashodhara Bajaj and then MP Vilas Muttemwar. Many villagers witnessed the gala ceremony when dignitaries arrived at the venue in a helicopter, which was their main attraction. Over Rs211 crore have been spent till date, but not even a single brick has been laid for the main dam. Except three colonies, offices and a small sub-dam, there’s nothing to show.

During NGO Janmanch’s ‘Sinchan Shodh Yatra’ to the dam to take a stock of the situation, many startling facts came to fore on how the important the project is being inordinately delayed.

After it was conceived in 1982-83, the irrigation department deputed an entire division there and work started in full swing. Even offices were built and three colonies were set up around the dam area for families of officials. Till 1984-85, primary works like internal roads were completed. However, after the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) moved the Supreme Court, the work was stopped.

BNHS contended that the project involves diversion of 2,906.26 hectares of forest land, but the government didn’t take mandatory permission for it from the forest department as per the Forest Conservation Act, 1984. Since then, the project is stuck up in one or other hurdles as its submergence area covers TATR’s tiger corridor After getting clearance from the apex court, an in-principal nod was granted to acquire forest land for the project, but nothing moved further.

“I joined as a guard in 1982-83 when the construction work began. I retired a couple of months back, but it’s still not completed. I stay in nearby village where there’s a huge water scarcity. We were hopeful that the dam would resolve our problems,” says Meshram, who is part of the project since Day 1.

The Janmanch delegation led by newly appointed president Pramod Pande, secretary Naresh Kshirsagar, Govind Bhendarkar and Raju Jagtap interacted with many villagers and Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) officials, who informed that even 99% land was yet to be acquired out of the 8,471.83 hectares needed.

Villagers still hopeful of dam completion

The aggrieved villagers say the dam would have ended their water problem, particularly in summers. They were also hoping for employment on the project site when its work was started, but their dreams never materialized.

They say though their area was not suicide prone like Yavatmal, still a handful of farmers ended their lives due to continuous crop failure and mounting debts, and availability of water could have prevented it. However, they are still hopeful of its completion.

“I still remember the day when the foundation stone was laid. We all went there to see the helicopter which landed in our area for the first time. Hundreds came for the ceremony which raised our hopes,” says Ramchandra Gahane, a 76-year-old farmer.

Sadashiv Meshram, the 70-year-old Sarpanch, said, “We don’t get water of Gosikhurd dam. We had kept hopes on the Human project for irrigation since long. Now, even our wells have dried up in winters. We don’t know how we will survive in summer.”

“Earlier, we used to have six divisions working here. The officials used to reside in three colonies with their families. A bus used to ply children to the nearby school in Navargaon. After stoppage of work, many vehicles like trucks and Jeeps turned into a scrap due to non-usage. Even the houses are in ruins,” says junior engineer HC Dhakate, who’s working on the project since the last 22 years.

Zilla Parishad member Ramakant Lodhe, said, “We want our public representatives to raise the issue in assembly and Parliament. The people are suffering due to shortage of water,” he says.

“If we get all necessary clearances from the government, we will complete it within five years, which would bring huge irrigation in this part of the state,” says project’s executive engineer Arvind Gedam.

Clearance pending with wildlife board: Mungantiwar

State forest and finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, whose constituency is going to be benefited by it, is making all efforts to revive the dam. “It’s pending with the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). I’ve been following this project since long and had written 457 letters to the government, when I was in the Opposition. Without their consent, we can’t move forward,” he said. The minister said the government had already deposited Rs188.40 crore for net present value (NPV) and compensatory afforestation in CAMPA fund. “We’ve kept everything ready. Once, we get clearance from the wildlife board, we will go ahead with the construction,” Mungantiwar said.

No meeting of experts panel since 2 yrs: VIDC

VIDC officials said an expert panel was constituted in a meeting convened under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s chairmanship on October 26, 2016, for visiting the dam site and talk to the stakeholders. The panel was told to come up with an impact assessment study of the project over Tadoba’s wildlife corridor. The panel was supposed to visit the project area first on February 2, 2017, and then on March 4 the same year. But both the visits were cancelled. Executive engineer Arvind Gedam said they were continuously following the panel members for visit since 2017.