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

Can free‑living Indian street dogs teach us about how to care for pet dogs?

By Daniel Ramp, Kapil Vishwas Patwardhan, Rosalie Chapple  We give our pet dogs shelter, veterinary care, affection, training and play. We decide when they eat, where they sleep, when they go outside, who they meet, and how they move through the world.

Rights groups condemn arrests and security buildup amid Siang mega-dam protests in Arunachal

By A Representative    A  coalition of  several civil rights, labour, student and social justice groups,  Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), has condemned the arrest of three anti-dam activists in Arunachal Pradesh following recent violence in Pasighat, demanding their immediate release and the withdrawal of security forces from protest areas opposing the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).

A path of self-reliance in place of migration: Saplings, nutrition gardens and perseverance

By Vikas Meshram*  In the tribal belt stretching from Banswara to Dahod, the day often begins with a glance at the sky. The fields are small, the land uneven and sloping, and irrigation mostly means whatever the rain chooses to give. Yet in the villages of this region, a different story has been unfolding over the past few years. Sitting in meetings of Vaagdhara’s Gram Swaraj groups, farmers have begun to treat water, forest, land, livestock and seed as their real capital.