Narmada team take protest to President

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23.

A 12-member delegation, comprising eight children from the Narmada Valley and four Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activists today met the joint secretary to the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, to protest against serious laxity in rehabilitation work and demanding review of all controversial aspects of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP).

The delegation, which represented 70-odd tribal children who once lived on the banks of the Narmada and are now students of the NBA-run ``Jeevan Shalas'', in a memorandum demanded ``an independent inquiry into the status of displacement, rehabilitation, submergence and human rights in the SSP''.

Urging the ``Government to review all aspects of the dam and to find out sustainable alternatives,'' the delegation called for ``suspension of all work on the dam site till the inquiry and review is complete''.

In the Capital after their five-day ``Jeevan Yatra'' from Madhya Pradesh, the children also requested Mr. Narayanan to visit displaced villagers and those outsees who are being uprooted with the raising of dam's height.

However, they were disappointed as they failed to meet the President. The group was not allowed to narrate their tale of sorrows. NBA volunteers also complained of police highhandedness.

``After submitting the memorandum, our plan was to hold a peace march on Parliament Street. But police deployed there harassed us and the innocent children were forced to move towards Connaught Place. So, we had no choice but to stage a sit-in near Jeevan Bharti Building on Parliament Street,'' alleged a volunteer.

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