Medha Patkar ends fast

MUMBAI, SEPT. 27. The noted environmentalist, Ms. Medha Patkar, spearheading the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), today withdrew her 11-day-long indefinite hunger strike after specific assurances from the Maharashtra Government on the rehabilitation of the Sardar Sarovar Project-affected people of the State.

``We have forced the Government to accept the fact that rehabilitation of the project-affected people has not been completed,'' a frail-looking Ms. Patkar said. ``Our fight should not be restricted to a single dam but it is also against lack of principles of various political parties, which gave assurances prior to elections but forget them after coming to power,'' she added.

Ms. Patkar drank coconut water given to her by Ranyabhai Padvi, a tribal from Mukadi village in Maharashtra and one of the oldest NBA activists, at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.

Five of the 11 NBA activists, all tribals from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, accompanying Ms. Patkar in her hunger strike, were admitted to G.T. Hospital after their condition deteriorated.

Ms. Patkar was leading an agitation for her various demands regarding rehabilitation of displaced people in the metropolis since September 11 and began her indefinite hunger strike from September 17.

- PTI

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