Cong leaders in Mah, MP opposed to dam height raise : NBA

New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) The Narmada Bachao Andolan, in the forefront of the agitation against the raising of height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam today said that the UPA government's 'no-response' to its agitation against the construction of the dam happened despite opposition from the Congress leaders in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

''Rather, pressure from the Gujarat Congress was behind Centre's decision not to take a strong position against the Modi government's violent move to push the dam ahead. The Congress leaders in Gujarat who have never even assessed the woes and problems of Gujarat's own thousands of ousted adivasis, helped to make Modi a hero out of his politically motivated push "through false compliance reports and strong bureaucratic alliance", bypassing even the Ministers in Maharashtra and at the Centre,''the NBA said in a statement here.

The NBA said that in Maharashtra, the Member of Parliament from Nandurbar (the constituency of the affected Adivasis) who is also the Minister of State for Home Mr Manikrao Gavit, wrote to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in April itself, against the dam height raise and asking construction to be halted till rehabilitation is completed. The local Congress MLA, Mr. P. Valvi, also did the same.

Both of them visited the resettlement sites on May 4 and gave a report detailing the shocking story of incomplete and unjust resettlement, with problems of land rights, drinking water, landlessness in spite of eligibility for land, and undeclared families, which also openly criticised the false reports and misleading role of the bureaucrats, asking the CM for immediate intervention.

''The letter points out the grave picture in the case of adivasis shifted out of the river valley 12 to 13 years ago,''the NBA said.

In Madhya Pradesh, the NBA said that the Congress guided by Mr Arjun Singh, appointed a committee with senior leaders including Mr Ajay Singh, Mr KK Mishra and Subhash Yadav, that visited affected villages, heard the people and submitted a report, bringing out the enormous problems and status of rehabilitation, which had fallen behind, violating the law. Their report recommended suspension of dam work.

''In the SSP affected region of MP, the Congress party is in power in two-thirds of Panchayats and municipalities. Hence, here the votes of the dam-affected communities matter much more than in Gujarat. The affected region in Maharashtra also has always elected Congress representatives, who seem to not be respected by the Centre, when the dam is being raised today beyond 114 metres, which would drown the adivasi communities,''the NBA said.

''With the PM inactive and the Court delaying the judgement, the people in the area are watchful of the parties and their elected representatives, so as to teach a lesson when the turn comes. It is the dam that would, if allowed by all democratic fora to go ahead, that would redefine and reintroduce the unholy politics to the lakhs of voters in the Narmada Valley,'' the NBA statement added.

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