On the last day of the deadline to evacuate the villages in the submergence area of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), the indefinite fast by Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar continued for the fifth day.
Medha Patkar, along with a dozen other activists, is on a hunger strike at Chikaldha village against the deadline of raising the height of Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat.
The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has given its approval to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam to 138.68 metres from the present 121.92 metres.
The Supreme Court had fixed July 31 as the deadline. However, more than 3,000 families are yet to be rehabilitated even as they are being forced to leave their houses by state government authorities.
Areas of western Madhya Pradesh, bordering Gujarat, are to be submerged in the backwaters of Sardar Sarovar. Around 300 villages of three states—Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharstahtra—are to be displaced. It will also drown 13,542 square hectares of forest land and 11,279 square hectare of agriculture land. Around 40,000 families living in the Narmada valley consisting of poor farmers, landless and poor people, artisans, potters, Adivasis will be affected by the project.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court is likely to hear the issue of postponing the deadline. Meanwhile, in an online petition initiated by a former IIM Kolkata professor and noted environmentalist Jayanta Bandopadhyay, several leading intellectuals including Noam Chomsky have joined.
The petition demands Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide a comprehensive re-survey of the project. The petition, which has gathered support from 29 countries, says “The Supreme Court order clearly states that Resettlement and Rehabilitation of the Project Affected Families is to be complete in all respects before any forcible displacement of these villages is directed. Closing of the gates is de facto a method of forcible eviction and, thus, not only a barbaric act but also a disrespect of the court order.”
The signed petition by Chomsky says, “Meeting the rightful demands of the people is essential to ensure the faith of people in non-violent, democratic and constitutional governance and struggle for their rights. I, on behalf of the people of Narmada valley, now appeal to you for immediate attention and intervention to save the people threatened by submergence.”
Earlier, Medha Patkar, addressing a press conference in Bhopal, said, “By closing the gates of Sardar Sarovar dam to a final height of 138.68 metres, the government has decided to drown more than 40,000 families in Narmada valley without complete and just rehabilitation.”
The NBA activists along with the project affected people held a kafan satyagraha (demonstration of protests as dead bodies) in Badwani yesterday to show the plight of the displaced people.
While meeting some of the affected people, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan urged people not be misled by opposition’s “false and misleading propaganda’’ over rehabilitation efforts.
