AAP workers held a demonstration in support of Narmada agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. They also laid a siege to the bungalow of Lal Singh Arya, minister in-charge of Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) in the state capital. Opposition parties and NGOs are criticising the attitude of the minister towards the problems of the affected people. They point out that instead of worrying about the thousands of families being forced to leave their homes and hearths due to the impending submergence of a huge area in Narmada valley; Arya is busy campaigning for the urban civic body polls. Vast areas in four districts of the state will go under water because of the decision to fill water up to the highest level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam reservoir. But the minister is yet to the visit the area even once. For the past several days, Arya was in Bhopal and in his assembly constituency Gohad, but could not find time to visit the submergence zone.

Four districts – Dhar, Badwani, Alirajpur and Khargone – are in the submergence zone and according to government figures, around 72,000 persons will be displaced. Over 15,000 families are yet to be rehabilitated but the minister is unconcerned. CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been telling his colleagues to be on the move. But Arya, apparently, does not care. When asked, he recently said the local MLAs and minister in-charge were monitoring the situation!

Arya is just parroting the figures being supplied to him by NVDA officers. He is holding this department for the past three years but he is not showing any seriousness in dealing with the situation. The AAP activists who staged a demonstration in front of his house had even brought a car with them to be offered to the minister so that he could tour the affected area. They said that even drinking water was not available in the resettlement areas and the minister was peddling fake figures supplied to him by officers ensconced in air-conditioned chambers. They demanded that the minister visit the area, apprise himself of the facts and then tell the truth to the people.

The Andolan is continuing to get support from social activists from various countries. The most unexpected support came from a Pakistani NGO named Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC), which urged Government of India to intervene and solve the problems of the Narmada oustees. PKRC secretary Farooq Tariq, in a message to those on hunger strike, said that 40,000 families of Narmada valley, their cattle, millions of trees, temple and mosques, schools and relics of ancient civilizations (that will get submerged) are precious assets of India. The government should not sacrifice Narmada Valley for the sake of protecting private profit," Tariq said.

Despite her precarious health, Medha Patkar addressed the people present at the fast site and criticised Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for weaseling out of his promise to raise the issues of dam-affected people.

"During his last visit to Rajghat in Dhar in September 2016, Kumar had promised to support the people affected due to the project. He is in possession of some important documents relating to the project but after his alliance with Narendra Modi, there is no hope of him raising the issue," she said.

Later, NBA activists and locals took out a rally and burnt the effigy of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. AAP leader Alok Agrawal alleged that the state government had misguided the Supreme Court and gave it false information regarding the rehab works but in reality the government was yet provide basic amenities, including drinking water, electricity and roads.

The Narmada issue was also raised in Parliament by former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who said that while the Supreme Court had asked the state government to rehabilitate the oustees by July 31, over 2.5 lakh people remained untouched by any official measure. The chief minister should speak to these people, he said during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha. Scindia alleged that the Madhya Pradesh government was providing wrong information on the issue.

Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who hails from the state, accused Congress leaders of trying to hamper the developmental project which, he said, would benefit people in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Work on the project has been going on since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru and the order of the apex court was followed to the last word, he said. Tomar added that Medha Patkar was playing politics. (IPA Service)