NBA to launch agitation from August 5

Mumbai, Aug 1 (UNI) The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has threatened to launch an agitation in Madhya Pradesh from August 5 to protest the increase in height of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

Talking to reporters here today, NBA leader Medha Patkar said due to an increase in the height of the dam upto 119 meters, around 35,000 families from the three states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat would be affected.

She said that although the Gujarat Government has stopped construction of dam at 119 meters, three meters below the targetted height of 122 mts, the impending submergence this monsoon can be devastating for the hilly ''adivasi'' villages.

She alleged that rehabilitation in Maharashtra has been incomplete and over 1100 families, who are on government records, and hundreds others who are yet to be recognised as affected, have still not received the entitled land and house plots at the resettlement sites.

Ms Patkar claimed that the Madhya Pradesh Government did not have irrigable and cultivable land available to offer to the affected people.

The agitation, she said, will begin in Madhya Pradesh from August 5 by holding a rally to denounce the unjust displacement of the people. On August 6, agitation will be held at Bhitada, Jhabua village in Madhya Pradesh, and on August 7, the agitation will be launched at Chimalkheda in Maharashtra.

UNI ST MAZ ARB KN2204