THOUSANDS OF people face submergence this monsoon in the Narmada Valley as the height of the dam has been increased without any efforts to rehabilitate them.
With a meeting of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) scheduled for tomorrow in the Capital, Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan addressed a press conference to highlight the plight of the families affected by the dam construction.
"In total violation of Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT), the relief and rehabilitation of many affected families is incomplete even as the government has gone ahead with constructing the dam walls to 90 metre height. We demand that the dam wall be
demolished to 80 metre height. It is impossible to rehabilitate the thousands who would be affected this monsoon," Patkar said.
According to Ms Patkar a lot of ex-parte allotment of non-existent land or uncultivable land and dispersed land was going on in the name of rehabilitation. "The Justice SM Dawood Committee of the Maharashtra Government has found that these allotments were
faulty. Allotments on paper can not be proved as correct," Patkar said.
