Tension in dam-affected villages in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: Tension prevailed in several Madhya Pradesh villages facing submergence by the Sardar Sarovdar Dam (SSD) project with people refusing to vacate their lands in protest against the “half hearted” rehabilitation measures undertaken by the state government, even as the deadline set by Supreme Court to relocate them ended on Monday.

While some villagers in the area were seen sitting on “Jal Satyagrah”, their counterparts in other villages have launched “Chullah Bandh Satyagarh”.

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) chief Medha Patkar, whose indefinite fast demanding proper rehabilitation of affected people, entered second on Monday, refused to heed to plea by the local administration to call off her stir.

She sat on fast at the village bordering Dhar and Barwani districts in MP.

“We have deployed three companies of special armed force (SAF), including women security personnel, in the region to ensure law and order. More companies of security forces will be dispatched to the area if needed,” inspector general of police (IGP) (law and order) Markand Deoskar told reporters here on Monday evening.

“The process of eviction of the areas affected by dam project will end on Monday as per Supreme Court guidelines,” state chief secretary B.P. Singh told the mediapersons after chairing an emergency high-level official meeting called here to review the situation.

Reports reaching here said people in 43 villages closed their kitchens in protest against their forcible eviction without providing basic amenities in the rehabilitation colony where they were asked to shift. “The rehabilitation colonies lacked basic necessities like road, drinking water and toilets. How can the people shift to these centres at a time when rain continued to lash in the area? The relocation of the villages should be deferred till they are properly rehabilitated,” Ms Patkar said.

A spokesman of the state government told this newspaper that he was hopeful of peaceful rehabilitation of the affected people. A little over 18,000 families in 192 villages in the districts of Barwani, Dhar and Khargaone have been affected by the dam project.