NBA leaders call on President

New Delhi, Mar 23 (UNI) A Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) delegation led by Medha Patkar met President A P J Abdul Kalam today seeking his intervention for stoppage of work on raising the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam from 110.64 to 122 metres.

Ms Patkar, activist and former Central SC/ST Commissioner B D Sharma and the other members of the delegation informed the President about the week-old sit-in protest here by farmers from SSP-affected areas of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

According to a NBA spokesperson, the President assured the delegation that he would apprise the Government about their demands.

The NBA says the dam height is being raised in an ''inhuman'' manner without consideration to the lives of 35,000 families who would lose their land because of submergence.

It alleges corruption in the disbursal of rehabilitation package in cash, that all the project-affected have not been shifted to the resettlement and rehabilitation sites as mandated in law and that even many of those resettled are leaving in search of sustenance options.

The decision of the Narmada Control Authority to raise the dam height was in ''total violation'' of the rulings of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal, Supreme Court judgments, state resettlement and rehabilitation policies as well as international covenants, the NBA says.

Ms Patkar and nearly 350 affected farmers are on a sit-in protest outside the Water Resources Ministry here since March 17.

UNI VN VD KN1923