Gandak Dam Visit and Interaction with Affected Communities

On January 12, 2012 there was a discussion program organized by River & Dam Victim’s National Struggle Committee in SAP-Falcha, Babarmahal. The meeting was focused on the significance of a network among the victims nationwide so that they could make any sort of move jointly which would grab attention of government. In the discussion, the participants from different districts of Nepal shared the problems of their locality and what are the demands of their communities. The participants also discussed about numbering of the places according to the priority and the network will focus one by one. The numbering done by the discussion between the participants came up with the affected places. The priority are as follows:
1. Gandak 2. Koshi 3. Mahakali
4. Dam (i) Laxmanpur, (ii) Mahakali, (iii) Khurd Lotan, (iv) Danda Farniya
5. Karnali 6. Melamchi 7. Seti 8. Kali Gandaki

The program was wrapped up with a conclusion of establishing a nationwide network of Rivers and Dam Victim’s National Struggle Committee and decision of visiting Gandak Barrage on January 13-14, 2012.

On January 13, 2012 a team of 12 people from victim committee members including two FIAN staffs (Mr. Suman Piya and Mr. Rupesh Maharjan) went to Nawalparasi. The main purpose of the visit is to build up the victim’s network and to observe how the people of Nawalparasi are suffering from different problems due to Gandak Dam. The activities carried out in the Nawalparasi are as follows:

1. Meeting with Gandak River Control Struggle Committee:
There were 25 members including the visit team present in Gandak River Control Struggle Committee Office (Please refer to the Annex 1 for the list of participants). The members first of all the introduced themselves and had a refreshment. After that there was an informal discussion with the members of Gandak River Control Struggle Committee and the visiting team.

The discussion session focused about the significance of the network of struggling committee nationwide and how it could help to overcome the problems of the victims.

Dr. D.N. Gupta then shared the issue that the committee is raising for long time regarding the violation of the agreement by the Indian government in construction of road and bridge over the canals. He showed the team the sample of sand and concrete which are to be used in the agreement and which are being used.

2. Visited under construction bridge, canals, Gandak Barrage
Day 1
The main purpose of the team was to visit therefore after a short discussion with committee the team went for visiting the canals, bridge, roads which is construed by Indian government as per the agreement. The team visited the place where the raw materials for construction of bridge are placed. There were two types of sand are placed one is local and another is the sand from Sonpur.

Dr. D.N. Gupta, Secretary, Gandak River Control Struggle Committee and a member of visiting team shared how the bridge is being constructed using local sand and concrete and how it should be constructed as per an agreement passed by the Indian government.

The local people shared that the Indian government has promised to construct a RCC bridge which is of highway standard but it did not happen. The bridge presently under construction is being halted by the locals because the standard has not been met as promised.

The team decided to visit the Gandak Barrage and other canal sites on the next day after visiting the bridge in Pratappur and Belatari village.

Day 2
On the second day morning, the team went for visiting the Gandak Barrage which was constructed by the Indian Government in May 4, 1964 AD. The Indian Government has made a pact with His Majesty’s King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev to construct a barrage over the Tribeni River for irrigation of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states of India. The barrage helps to flows water towards two different canals Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The length of barrage is 2425 ft. and there were 36 flood gates present in the Gandak Barrage and 8-8 H/R gates in canals. Both the canals to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have capacity to flow maximum of 700,000 cu/sec of water and minimum of 8000 cu/sec.

One of the canal which is constructed for irrigation of Uttar Pradesh lies inside the boundary of Nepal. The length of the canal that lies inside Nepal is 19.5 kilometers and it travels from Bhaisalotan-Pratappur-India. The Indian government had made an agreement to provide compensation to the local people for encroachment of land in village. The government also promised to construct RCC standard bridge over the canal, 15 Mega watt hydropower, two lane roads, hospital and a school in the village. But only roads and bridges have been constructed in the village by the Indian government and those constructed roads and bridges are not as per the agreement.

Only one lane road has been constructed and the bridges do not meet the RCC standard in the village. After visiting the roads and bridges, the team went for visiting the Hydro Power station which was constructed by Indian government. The hydro power lies in the Surajpur village and it has capacity of producing 15 mega watt of electricity. But the officials shared that they are producing only 5 mega watt so far due to lack of water supply.

After visiting the hydro power, the team ended the visit program and headed for Kathmandu.

3. The major issues raised by the community were:
– The raw materials for constructing road and bridge are not as per agreement.
– The compensation which was promised has not been provided.
– The enough water is not provided to the locals for irrigation in their agriculture land.

4. Finding and observation of the visit
A one day visit of River & Dam Victim’s National Struggle Committee and FIAN Nepal members to Gandak Dam, Nawalparasi has certain findings and learning which are as follows:
– The Indian government has constructed the roads and bridges in the village over the canals but they are not as per the standard in the agreement.
– The local people have not been provided compensation for the encroachment of their land.
– The canal do not provided enough water supplies to Nepal for irrigation and hydro power generation.
– Some bridge construction work has been halted by the local people because the bridges have been constructed with low-quality materials which is violating the agreement.