Medha Patkar slams Centre, state governments; begins two-day protest at Jantar Mantar

NEW DELHI: Social activist Medha Patkar today slammed the Centre and governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra accusing them of mismanagement in resettlement and rehabilitation of the people affected by Narmada dam.

Patkar began a two-day protest today at Jantar Mantar here to commemorate 30 years of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), a movement that was begun to protest the construction of a dam on Narmada river which displaced thousands of people.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had decided, within a month of the formation of his government, to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar dam by 17 meters, Patkar said Modi "behaved like the Chief Minister of Gujarat" and not the Prime Minister of the country while doing so.

"There are not less than 48,000 families in Gujarat, MP and Maharashtra affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project whose land and livelihood-based resettlement and rehabilitation as per the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award, 1979 (NWDTA), State Rehabilitation Policies, judgements of the Supreme Court and GRAs order is yet to happen," Patkar said.

Latching on a report of the Central Fact Finding Team which had visited the Sardar Sarovar Project Submergence Areas in MP and Maharashtra in May this year, the activist said that the affected people include thousands of tribals and other farmers, landless labourers and fishermen, among others.