Water Conflict in Western

Minutes of Regional Workshop on Water Conflicts in 19th April 2009 Hotel Kaveri,

The workshop started at 10.00 am with Mr. Ranjan Kumar Panda of MASS welcoming the gathering and briefing them about this Special Session on ‘Water Conflict in Odisha’ during the ‘Odisha River Conference’. He invited Mr. Lingaraj Pradhan, from Paschim Odisha Krusak Suraksha Samanwaya Samiti, to preside over the meeting. The participants which also included special invitees apart from those attending the 3-days Odisha River Conference were requested to self-introduce themselves by the chairman. List of the participants has been given in Annexure-I.

The broad agenda of the regional workshop was to discuss ongoing water conflicts in the Western Odisha and to get inputs from the participants to further works on their documentation and dissemination and also to plan efforts towards their resolution. Considering the location of workshop, another apt objective was also to look at the Industry Vs Agriculture Conflict at Hirakud taking advantage of availability of different stakeholder among the participants. The formal Agenda is given in Annexure-II.

The Chairperson of the meeting requested Mr. Pranab Choudhury, to make his presentation on the backdrop and rationale of the workshop and the expectations of the Odisha State Center of the Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflict in from this workshop. Pranab started the presentation with a brief introduction about the Forum, Odisha State Center and purpose of the meeting.

He informed that the ‘Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflict in India’ is a loose network of people interested in water conflicts in India. It was started in 2004 with support from WWF project ‘Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment’ to bring all those people to one forum. In its first phase, the Forum has worked mostly on documentation

on Indian water conflicts and now in its second phase since 2008, the Forum seeks to emphasizes on 4 broad areas like: Conflict Documentation, Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention with networking and awareness. In the last phase, the Eastern and North Eastern part of India could not be given adequate consideration and therefore now these areas have been prioritised in the 2nd phase of Forum’s work. Stating about the Odisha project, he put forth the background, aims and objectives of the Initiative ‘Engaging with water conflicts in Odisha’. He explained that the Project is a civil society initiative towards documentation & dissemination, resolution and prevention of water conflicts in the State of Odisha through peer guidance, Civil Society partnership, media engagement, action research, participation in active conflict, development of State Resource Center, policy research and advocacy. He emphasized on necessity of greater involvement of regional print/electronic media in the issues around water conflict, considering the existing low involvement. In this aspect, he highlighted the role of the State Centre to facilitate media involvement in documenting and disseminating relevant information around water conflict. He stated that this was an undertaking of Baitarani Initiative of Shristi with shared views and consultations with Orissa Water Forum (OWF). The project is being implemented as Odisha State Center of ‘Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India’. After giving a brief idea about the objective of the project, Pranab presented a preliminary water conflicts map of Odisha prepared on the basis of secondary review and urged upon the participants to contribute towards its improvement and enrichment with additional information. Based on the preliminary understanding of Odisha’s water conflict topography, he outlined the state’s Water Conflict Contours around: { Over access to potable Drinking Water { Between competing uses viz. Agriculture Vs Industry { Over Water Quality { Flood induced conflicts { Between Catchment and Command { Exploitation & Contamination of ground water { Inter- state Water Conflicts { Dams & Displacements

{ River meandering, bank erosions { Over loss of Wetlands { Over threat to traditional livelihoods – fisheries, river bank agriculture etc. { Over threat to culture and traditions { Climate Change Concerns & Impacts Briefly discussing on the above points, he explained that though in the water policy of Odisha, drinking water has been placed as the first priority and water to industry is at fifth place, the situations in field are different. Though drinking water is the first priority, above 2.17 lakh rural habitations (in India) have been affected by poor water quality. In Odisha 20 districts are affected with fluoride. Now-a-days rapid industrialization, particularly mineral based industries are placing increased demands on water. By November, 2007, the State of Odisha has signed MoU with 59 industries and has promised to supply water from river system, especially from Hirakud Reservoir. The pollution level in the River systems in Odisha is also very high. In terms of water pollution load, Orissa stands fourth in India. The MoEF has identified 3 major rivers of Orissa as highly polluted and has brought them under the purview of the National River Conservation Plan. Odisha has 18 grossly polluting industries; – and areas contribute maximum to the pollution load. The upstream mines/industries/ urban bodies are affecting water quality of downstream villages and this leads to conflict in the respective localities. Drying of streams and tube wells, deterioration of river waters due to mining and industrial activities and the effects of such activities on health and livelihoods (e.g. fisheries) of down stream villagers are also the areas of concern. Flood has emerged as another important cause of conflict having 15% area of the state as flood prone. While the loss due to flood damage during 2002- 07 was about Rs 4000 Crore, the investment in flood control and receipt for flood relief was about Rs 15 Crore and approximate Rs 600 Crore respectively.

After briefly elaborating on the state’s water conflict situation, Pranab went on throw light on the purpose of the Regional Workshop. He said, “The main purpose of the workshop is to Discuss on “Water Conflicts in Western Odisha”, to interact with civil society partners about the ongoing and emerging water conflicts, to facilitate actions

towards understanding, to analyze and document these conflicts along with their complexities, to contribute towards water conflict literacy, informed debates, policy advocacy and to explore options to work towards resolution & prevention through development of frameworks”.

Then Ranjan Kumar Panda of Water Initiative Orissa presented his study on social movement arising out of conflict due to unregulated Hirakud water distribution system. As per his study, Hirakud has consumed highest land in comparison to its contemporary dams. The main purpose of the was to control the flood and it was the only dam to moderate downstream flood in Mahanadi. However it can intercept only 16 % of the total inflow into the reservoir and in reality it has not been able to fulfill its main purposes. Hirakud and its adjacent areas are rich with plenty of resources, which facilitate mineral based industrialization and the increase in water use also. Now there are more than 28 nos of industries which have been constructed near and around the Hirakud Reservoir. Now-a-days the water supply to industries has taken up the first place in priority order. By virtue of a govt. order, in the year 1990, the state earmarked about 7.5% of the then estimated live storage water for industries. But no body took note of that order as the notification was not publicized or debated. Farmers felt first major effect and scarcity of water in June 2005 as water could not be released to the Sason canal (left canal) for agriculture. It was seen that two industries had already started the lifting of water near the canal head and had obstructed downstream flow. The engineers of the Reservoir stated that 600 cusecs of water was flowing into the canal. But in reality, water was not flowing. Such chaotic situation reduced the farmer’s trust on Dam management system and gave rise to the movement.

Saroj Mohanty of Paschim Odisha Krusak Suraksha Samanwaya Samiti said that Western Odisha is not an isolated area in relation to water conflict. Water rights, land rights, and livelihood have been correlated with water and the conflicts around it. He added that it is difficult to treat water conflict in isolation of all such natural resources. Water belongs to all, not only for the present generation but for the future generation also. He questioned the controversial stand of the Government towards the control over

the water resources. Now the question is whether government has the authority to allocate water or not. The government has now become a facilitator concerned more about the safeguarding the corporate interest. All are eager to get maximum profit within the shortest possible time. He also questioned the policy making mechanism and the least public participation. As per him the conflicts on Hirakud Dam is a clear case of conflict between Agriculture Vs Industries. We are only considering mineral based industries and not the agro based industries. Agriculture and fisheries are overlooked by the State Government by giving importance to the mineral based industries. If the approved amount of water is given to the industries then it will affect about 50 lakhs farmers in the Mahanadi basin only. He gave example of which was constructed during 1991-92 and stated that though the priority was agriculture but the canal system has been started only this year. Indravati Dam is being mainly used for supplying water to Alumina Refinery of Sterilite Company. Even the Lower Suktel project may be with an aim to supply water to the probable alumina industries near Gandhamardan. He again stated that Shankha Bhanguni reservoir, the proposed project in Jamankira block in is only to provide water to industries. Some minor irrigation projects like Debadihi Nala, Banjarikata, Sankha Bhanguni project have been closed to construct such types of projects. The State Government has not also gained much by supplying water to industries. There are many industries which are taking water but are not paying the revenue, e.g. Rathi Steel hasn’t signed MoU but taking water without paying the price for water. He again pointed out that Kalahandi had never witnessed a flood, but in recent past flood has emerged as a problem in the basin due to diversion of water from Indravati to Tel River through Hati River. By giving some more examples he explained that a barrage near Kantamal has been proposed to supply water to Sterilite Company. Banmunda- Mohanpur road has already been constructed for this purpose. The ground water quality is rapidly degrading in District due to the affluent of many industries. Summarizing the above problems he has stated that it is very difficult to resolve the conflict as State Government is not impartial while taking these issues. Then he strongly put forth some action points like, not allowing the agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, developing authentic dataset on agricultural land and restrictions on minerals exports.

He was of the opinion that there is no requirement of mineral based industries. To stop the rapid industrialization a strong public movement is needed and the ongoing struggles are only confined to particular regions. So there is a need to take it to a common platform.

Manas Ranjan of Action Aid put forth his view with an approach that Irrigation has been considered to be a key responsibility of the state since time immemorial and now this responsibility is not being properly worked out by the State Government. To resolve this problem we need to work further on finding secondary information based analysis on the irrigation versus industry debate, to present such information to the farmer in an understandable way, especially to farmers who are not yet in the struggles. For every anti-displacement movement against industries there is a need to build support among farmers through analysis and impact on irrigation.

Lingraj Pradhan, the Chairman of the workshop and Convener Paschim Odisha Krusak Suraksha Samanwaya Samiti put forward certain observations, “Firstly the status of the movement on Hirakud in which a new trend may come after this election. We need to discuss the politics associated with the conflict in more details and urgency. Civil society Organizations needs to take a stand on this. Please go beyond conflict resolution dialogue. You have a role in this kind of movements. CSOs have to take a stand on whether mining based industries is real industrialization and do we need such industrializations or not. It has been the main concern that if the industrialization fulfills the interest of people or not. The present movement against the faulty water distribution system has many positive aspects and the media has taken a very clear stand on this issue. However the movement is now being termed as anti-industrial and this trend has started in 2009. Now some groups have been engaged to disintegrate the movement since January 13, 2009. Some news papers have come out with a report by State Pollution Control Board about the industrialization and its impacts on water resources. CSOs have to make studies on these things making the movements stronger. He again stated that the roles of academicians, researchers and Judiciary are not fruitful as they are not sensitive enough to take these issues for a solution. For the grassroots

activists it is an issue of life and livelihood. But if they are not supported by the people at large and with proper information, they will never succeed in their struggle. Global warming and climate change is a big issue in western countries. But we are not that much conscious. We need to sensitize the people on this issue and link up it with massive industrialization. We need to comprehensively document these things. Now a day food security is the main concern and it is only possible when we will prioritize the agricultural aspects. Finally he stated that we need to make the Hirakud movement successful as Gandhamardan movement and this issue should be taken in large to make it a landmark movement”.

In the follow up open-session, several participants raised their concerns about different water conflict issues in western Odisha and shared information on them.

In the beginning, chair, Prof D. P. Nayak explained about the term “Riparian Right”. As per him there is no proper definition on this term and in dictionary it is defined as the laws relating to river bed. He sought to know what riparian right is, as all permission granted from river comes with a statement ‘subject to non-violation of riparian rights’. The UNDP Report defines riparian right as the rights of the communities on the resources who have firstly used those resources. Therefore we have the riparian right over the water.

Shiva Prasad Sahoo discussed about the political aspects of the movement against the faulty water distribution system at Hirakud. He said that media has taken a stand because it realizes the maximum representation of people in the movement. CSOs have been associated with the movement because many members of different CSOs have land properties in the command area. All political parties were involved during human chain and participated in the disobedience movement. But afterwards when the movement was taken forward with a strong impact, the State government was drawn into many troubles. So the government tried to weaken the movement in different way. Some parallel movements got initiated with different approaches to make the movement weak. They came as another group named Vir Bisthapit Sangharsh Samiti,

allegedly supported by a prominent political party and a tainted industrial house only to weaken the movement.

Murari Prasad Purohit a farmer and an active member of the movement put forth his experience explaining the factual differences between agriculture and irrigation statistics. He reiterated, “The place where this conference is going on has also been an irrigated land by record. To provide water to the industries the State Government is trying to dig canal inside the reservoir and the excavated earth is being dumped just inside the reservoir. All the time the Academicians, Researchers and CSOs are advising us to fight against pollutions, but how it is possible as we are engaged in farming and our livelihood is completely depending upon this. We are not here to fight and agitate against everything. The impact of Sason canal problem is still being felt all over the command. The politicians have never supported the real plights of the local farmers”. At the end he pointed out the pollution issue and its different impacts on water, horticulture, agriculture and its effects on livelihood.

Aditeshwar Mishra the correspondent of of Oriya daily Dharitri in District said, “Although there is a big Dam at Indravati, still, some other big dams on Tel River are on Government proposal. Now a dam is being proposed on Tel River for which a 70 ft wide road from Manamunda to Mohangiri is being constructed. 36 Villages are going to be affected by this project. In present condition the concerns of the people have got diverted to communal riots in Kandhmal and Boudh Districts and therefore they have not taken the conflict on water issues seriously. In Kamghat village of Boudh district the water conflict due to bank erosion is growing further, with private lands and backyards caving in to the swelling river with additional water coming from Indravati.

Mehboob Mahtab, correspondent of Dharitri in informed that the Bheden River in Jharsuguda District has completely got polluted by the affluent generated by Alumina Smelter Plant and captive power plant of Vedanta. He also highlighted the issues on ground water depreciation, loss of agriculture, drinking water problem, sinking riverbed etc.

During the open house discussion some issues like livelihood problems after rehabilitation, cultural conflicts, pollution of water in the reservoir and in the downstream, loss of land fertility, loss of livestock, effect on aqua flora and fauna, groundwater contamination and depreciation, different health aspects, water to industries, siltation problem in the reservoir, impact of insufficient water supply on delta irrigation, disappearance of rivers, different threats to mangrove etc came into discussion.

At the end of the workshop, the vote of thanks was given by Pranab Ranjan Choudhury.

ANNEXURE-I Water Conflict in Western Odisha List of Participants 19th April 2009, Hotel Kaveri, Sambalpur Sl No Name of the Participants Name of the Organization 1. Abdul Safique Lok Bikash, 2. Adityeswar Mishra Dharitri Correspondent, Kantamal, Boudh 3. Arttabandhu Mishra Indian River Network, Sambalpur 4. Ashis Das Odisha Water Forum 5. B. Shankar Dharitri, Sambalpur 6. Basant Hati Social Activist, Sambalpur 7. Bibhu Pattanaik Sambalpur Panipanchayat Samannaya Committee, Sason Sambalpur. 8. Bijay Kumar Kabi APOWA, 9. Bimal Prasad Pandia WIO, Sambalpur 10. Bipin Bihari Barik Agragamee, 11. Durga Prashad Panda NSSO (FAI), Bolangir 12. G. Mohapatra ETV News, Sambalpur 13. Gajendra Pandey MASS, Sambalpur 14. Himansu Majhi MASS, Sambalpur 15. Jagdish Mishra Yuba Udayan, Sambalpur 16. Kapileswar Mishra OPJIT, Raigarh, Chhatisgarh 17. Lingaraj Pradhan Samajwadi jan Parishad, 18. Madan Kumar Sahu SMPU, Bolangir 19. Mehboob Mahatab Dharitri, Jharsuguda 20. Murari Prashad Purohit Krishak Sangathan, Sambalpur 21. Nirupama Mohanty IRN (Swaraj), 22. Padma Keshari Sahoo BRB Initiative, Shristi, Bhubaneswar 23. Pradeep Das Swaraj, Bhadrak 24. Pradeep Kumar Dajee ADHAR, Loisingha, Bolangir 25. Pranab Ranjan Choudhary BRB Initiative, Shristi, Bhubaneswar 26. Priya Ranjan Sahu Hindusthan Times, Sambalpur 27. Priyabrata Satapathy Shristi, Bhubaneswar 28. Prof. D.P. Nayak Sambalpur 29. Rajendra Ku Behera Pragati, Sundargarh 30. Rajendra Kumar Behera Pragati, Sundargarh 31. Rajkishore Swain Freedom, 32. Ranjan Kumar Panda MASS/WIO, Sambalpur 33. Sanjay Kumar Mishra Kantabanji, Bolangir 34. Sanjukta Das , Sambalpur 35. Saroj Mohanty POKSSS, Sambalpur 36. Seshadev Rath ETV News, Sambalpur 37. Shiba Nanda Dharitri, Sambalpur 38. Sankar Sahoo MASS, Sambalpur 39. Siba Prasad Sahu SMPU, Padampur, Bargarh 40. Subhendu Ku. Acharya Shristi, Bhubaneswar 41. Sukant Pradhan BRBI, Shristi,Bhubaneswar 42. Udaya Singh Thakur Lower Suktel Sangram Parishad, Rengali, Bolangir

ANNEXURE-II Regional Workshop on Water Conflict in Western Odisha 19th April 2009, Hotel Kaveri, Sambalpur A G E N D A Programme Schedule –April 19 2009

First session Water Conflicts in Western Odisha

Chair: Shri Lingaraj Pradhan (Paschim Odisha Krusak Suraksha Samanwaya Samiti)

9.30 – 10.00 Registration

10.00 – 10.10 Welcome, Introductory Remarks, Purpose of Meeting & Self Introduction

Water Conflicts in Odisha and setting the context- Pranab Ranjan 10.10 – 10.30 Choudhary.

10.30 – 10.40 Water Conflicts around Hirakud, - Ranjan K Panda

10.40 – 11.00 The farmers movement against diversion of water from irrigation to industries.- Lingaraj Pradhan

11.00 – 11.20 Water Conflicts of Western Odisha. – Saroj Mohanty

11.20 – 11.30 Tea Break

Second session Open session on Water Conflicts in Western Odisha

Chair - Prof. Artabandhu Mishra Co.Chair – Prof. D.P. Mohanty

11.30 – 1.00 Open House Discussion – All Participants.

1.00 – 1.10 Summary remarks - Chair

1.10 – 1.30 Moving Ahead – Pranab Ranjan Choudhury

1.30 – 1.35 Vote of thanks.

1.35 onwards Lunch and Departure