June 7 saw the life of Binda bai, a tribal woman belonging to Golkheda village in Madhya Pradesh's (mp) Khargone district, change drastically for the worse. The day had begun on a normal enough note, with her husband Jawan Singh setting off to work in his fields. But the 55-year-old farmer never returned. He had committed suicide by consuming endosulfan. The reason for the extreme step: a recent notice, served on Jawan Singh under Section 9 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, requiring him to relinquish his 1.2-hectare (ha) tract as it was falling under the submergence zone of the proposed Upper Beda Project. The venture involves the construction of a 2.30-kilometre-long dam, which will provide irrigation facilities for 71 villages in 9,900 ha of culturable command area.

"He had said he would rather die than be displaced,' recalls a wistful Binda bai .

The incident has infuriated the largely tribal population of the villages likely to be impacted by the project. The local people feel they are being sold down the river, because the state government has made a minor change in its rehabilitation and resettlement (r&r) policy which could have major repercussions for them. The authorities originally offered a land-for-land deal to the oustees. In fact, it was on the basis of these terms that mp managed to get clearance for the Beda project from the then Union ministry of welfare.

Now, the state government has shifted its stance. "The 1989 policy was amended in 2002. We have added a clause which states that land will be provided in exchange for land only as far as possible,' reveals a senior official of the Narmada Valley Development Authority (nvda)