Continuation of dam work a 'new era of brutality':Arudhati

New Delhi, Apr 17 (UNI) Author-activist Arundhati Roy today slammed the Centre for ushering in a ''new era of brutality'' by deciding to continue work on the Sardar Sarovar dam against opposition from various sections of the society.

''What we are seeing now is that we are entering a new era of brutality, which is not concerned with the Narmada Bachao Andolan or issues of displacement across the country,'' Ms Roy, a Booker Prize-winning author, told NDTV.

Calling the rehabilitation of the dam project oustees so far as mere ''lip service'', she said, it has now been established by the government's own team that rehabilitation was not taking place.

''This is the last port of call. The door is going to be slammed in their face,'' she said adding the poor people are forced to take up arms in Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand.

Warning that the situation was fast slipping out of hand, she said it was going to be challenged by the people on the streets.

She said the central government has clearly washed its hands off the issue.

Today, the Supreme Court ordered that work on the dam should not be halted, but warned that it would do so if rehabilitation was not seriously taken by the governments.

UNI SKS/FZ RR RAI1946