Press Release Date: – 31/8/2019
Today is the 7th Day of Medha Patkar’s Fast and 3rd day of eight other comrades.
Badwani District Magistrate, S.P and, additional S.P visited the site of her Satyagraha and appealed her to leave the fast
Narmada Challenge Satyagraha is getting solidarity from different parts of the country
Badwani, In a small village on the banks of the river Narmada,the indefinite fast by Medha Patkar continues for the 7th day. She has started this Anshan from 25th August on the decision made by the Gujarat and Central Governmentto fill the Sardar Sarovar Dam to 138.68 metres will led to the submergence of 192 Non- Rehabilitated villages and one town including 32,000 families which have not been rehabilitated till now and in this situation this decision is fatal.
The level of water in the dam has already reached 134 metre and the Gujrat and Central Government has been continuously neglecting these 32,000 families. The comrades of NamradaBachaoAndolanare continuing the Indefinite fast but the government hasn’t responded till now.
BadwaniDistrict collector Amit Tomar and S.P visited the site of hunger strike and appealed Medha and other comrades to end the fast but Satyagrahis rejected their appeal and demanded to end only if their demands are accepted. They are mainly that the water level should be reduced and rehabilitation should be made, then only 138.68 meters of water should be filled in the dam. No reply was given by the Budwani Collector.
Narmada challenge Satyagraha today, got the support from all over the country. The Socialist Party from Madhya Pradesh wrote a letter against drowning without any rehabilitation to Chief Minister Kamal Nath demanding reopening of the gates of the dam.There was a sit-in in support of the fastin Shuklavas, a village in Rajasthan. National coordination of mass movements demonstrated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and environmentalist activists also protested against this issue. Senior social worker Chinmaya Mishra also reached the fast site and supported this Satyagraha.
Even today, 32,000 families reside in the Narmada Valley. Government has listened to us but the work has not been done.The situation is the same even today.The Madhya Pradesh government should face the Gujarat and Central government and should open the gates of the dam and face rehabilitation immediately.
In eachand every dam, villages were being killed because the concept of development is also wrong. In such a situation, will the Madhya Pradesh government stop its people from drowning without rehabilitation. Complete rehabilitation of thousands of families is also incomplete in Madhya Pradesh, there are no legal facilities at rehabilitation sites. In such a situation, the displaced are struggling to see farming, livelihood sinking in their native village. We believe that, in such a situation Madhya Pradesh government cannot leave the its people.
According to the Narmada BachaoAndolan, not only 6000 families and 76 villages, a considerable amount (about 32000 families) are inhabited. People in the villages did not get their rights to rehabilitated land for Shop, small industry, workmanship, boatman, potter, and can we allow these villages to be killed by drowning?
Work has progressed very slowly on these issues. Today, it is necessary to adopt the right procedure immediately because in the last 15 years there has been a lot of disturbances, rigging, false reports and corruption. Even today the corrupt people have not been stopped. The assurances of returning the petitions submitted before the previous rule to the Supreme or High Court have not been fulfilled till date.
That is why underany circumstances, the water levelin Sardar Sarovar Dam should remain under 122 m and this has to be assured by the M.P Government. For which, with Narmada BachaoAndolan your and our support too will be there. You and your party have supported not only through your election manifesto but also standing with the displaced people. In Madhya Pradesh in 1996 and 1978 in NarmadaBachaoAndolan, all-party consensus has been reached on this issue.
Supporters of the Narmada BachaoAndolan are also constantly partnering with the movement.Including NAPM partners SunitiSulabha Raghunath, SuhasKolhekar (Pune, Maharashtra), Dr.Sunilam (Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM), Rajesh Bairagi, Liladhar Chaudhary (farmer Sangharsh Samiti), Shilpa Ballal, Sunil Sukthankar ji (Pune Maharashtra) Geetanjali Bahn (Nashik, Maharashtra) Shantanu (Delhi Forum), Chinmay Mishra, Saroj Mishra (Indore), Kailash Limbodia (Ma Pa), Ram Narayan Kurdiya (India are Kisan Sabha).
Going on the threshold of non-violent struggle of 34 years, Medha Patkar is on indefinite fast with 08 companions of affected villages.
Under the decisions of the Narmada Tribunal and the Supreme Court, it is your right and legal responsibility to ensure that there is complete rehabilitation before drowning.
Bhagirath Dhangar, Narendra Yadav, Rehmat Mansuri, HukumJat, DevisinghTomar, MahendraTomar, Sanobar B Mansuri, Pemal Bahn, Kamla Yadav
Contact: -Rohit Singh 9753000153, Rahul Yadav 9179617513
