Govt to review Narmada Dam height: CCPA

New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) The government today decided to review the proposal to raise the height of the Narmada Sarovar Dam in the face of an ongoing agitation by Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by Ms Medha Patkar.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Briefing reporters on the meeting, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz would soon convene a meeting of the review committee to look into the issue.

Mr Soz said he would review the decision taken by the Narmada Control Authority to raise the height of the dam.

After the CCPA meeting, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan and CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member Brinda Karat called on Dr Singh to discuss the issue.

At the half-an-hour meeting, the Left leaders sought an immediate suspension of the ongoing work at the dam and release of the report of the Group of Ministers (GoM) which visited the dam site following the indefinite fast undertaken by Ms Patkar.

Ms Karat told UNI that the Prime Minister, however, refused to make the GoM report public and clarified that it would first go to the review committee.

''We are not satisfied with the Prime Minister's response,'' she said. But the Left leaders persisted that the report be made public even as the review committee was going into the subject.

Ms Karat said she did not expect Ms Patkar to end her fast following the development.

Meanwhile, NBA served a two-day ultimatum on the government to reverse the decision to raise the dam height.

UNI SN/KSA YA HT1852