Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist Medha Patkar and her supporters on Thursday staged a sit-in near Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence protesting against the Centre’s decision to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam.
NBA activists said the decision to raise the dam’s height would affect thousands of families coming under the submergence zone of Narmada. They said adequate steps have not been taken for proper rehabilitation of the affected.The protestors demanded that the Madhya Pradesh Government refrain from raising the dam’s height. Police tried to obstruct their way at Kamla Park but failed to stop them and the protestors managed to reach CM house.
NBA activist Medha Patkar asserted the new land Accusation law as ill -legal and it is a planned move to grab land of displaced people in the ambitious Sardar Sarvoar Dam project.She said that Maharashtra and Gujarat governments have bought land for the displaced people affected due to the dam project but Madhya Pradesh government is still not able to purchase land for rehabilitation of displaced.
Heavy security arrangements were made in the wake of protest scheduled on Thursday in the state capital. Police force was deployed around every nook and corner in all the nearby areas of CM house but the protestors managed to reach CM house and staged protest near CM house.
Police faced hard time to contain protestor and used barricades to control the movement of the agitating protestors. Police defended their inability to restrain the movement of NBA activists by stating that they were informed at the eleventh hour which made it difficult to control the protestors. The protestors after being obstructed by the barricades started protest and raised slogans against the state government.