Skip to main content

Oustee agitation in Madhya Pradesh 'forced' Gujarat Govt to open Narmada dam gates

By A Representative
While the Gujarat government has been "forced" to open 25 gates of the Sardar Sarovar dam in order to save the lives of thousands of dam oustees following a Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) agitation at Rajghat, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh, NBA in a statement said, the drowning of the affected villages continues unabated following incessant rains.
As a result of the agitation, NBA claimed, the district collector, Badwani, reached the spot and was told that the dam's gates be urgently opened lest there would be massive drowning. On his assurance, the satyagraha was postponed, after which 25 gates were opened, and 1 lakh cusecs of water was released from the dam.
Even when the agitation was on, NBA said, news started pouring in that rising Narmada waters were submerging the lower settlements of Nisarpur and reaching even big houses and shops of several of the nearby villages, including Chhota Badda,Pichodi, Bagud, Piplud, Chhota Badda, Kadmal, Akek and so on. The rehabilitation of these villages, and more, remains incomplete. Things are no different in Maharashtra, it added.
NBA said, all this is happening because thousands of families in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Nimad region of Madhya Pradesh continue to stay put in their original villages because of failure to develop rehabilitation sites for the oustees.

Comments

TRENDING

Neville Cardus: The man who turned cricket writing into poetry

By Harsh Thakor*  Neville Cardus was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific English writer and critic, he achieved distinction in two vastly different fields: cricket and classical music. Entirely self-taught, Cardus rose from humble beginnings to become both the cricket correspondent and chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian . His achievements in these contrasting disciplines earned him widespread acclaim and established him as one of the foremost critics of his generation. In February 2025, the cricketing and literary world marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death, which occurred in February 1975.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The politics of dreaming: Savita Singh's feminist imagination

By Ravi Ranjan*  In contemporary Hindi poetry, few voices have explored the philosophical and creative possibilities of women's experience as powerfully as Savita Singh. Across collections such as "Svapna Samay" (Dream Time), Aapne Jaisa Jeevan, and "Prem Bhi Ek Yatana" Hai, she has developed a poetic world in which woman is not merely a subject of suffering or social commentary but a creator of knowledge, meaning, and alternative realities.