Centre politicising Narmada issue: Chouhan

Bhopal, Apr 19: The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh today alleged that the Centre was ''politicising'' the Narmada rehabilitation issue by sending a ministerial team without taking the state government into confidence.

''The centre's disregard towards the elected government and constitutional norms was evident from the fact that a ministerial team visited the Narmada valley and met the dam affected people without consulting the state government. It was an attempt to politicise the entire issue,'' Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told a news conference here.

''Even after undertaking the tour, the team neither held discussions with the state government nor provided a copy of its report,'' he pointed out.

Stating that the team had not undertaken intensive tour of the rehabilitation site nor enlisted the broader views of the affected people, the Chief Minister said whatever opinion the team had gathered was from ''select people'' present during its interaction at meetings.

''The state government would fully honour the Supreme Court directive and file its affidavit in the time-limit,'' Mr Chouhan added.

A three-member ministerial team comprising Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar and Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chouhan met the dam affected people in western Madhya Pradesh for two days last week.

UNI