The Hindu : Medha Patkar held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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Medha Patkar held

By Our Staff Correspondent

Photo: A.M. Faruqui

The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, and NBA activists sitting on a dharna at the entrance of the residence of the Madhya Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister, Subbhash Yadav, in Bhopal on Tuesday.

BHOPAL MAY 20. Police this evening arrested the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, and more than 100 of her supporters from the Madhya Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister, Subhash Yadav's residence, where they were sitting on a day-long protest dharna after breaking the security cordon and entering the premises by force. The NBA activists, who were closely followed by the crew members of some private television news channels, took the handful of security guards posted at Mr. Yadav's house by surprise earlier today. Within no time, they were in complete control of the entry gate and the whole crowd was inside the Deputy Chief Minister's residence protesting against the clearance recently granted for raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat to 100 metres.

A few of the protesters had even climbed the roof of Mr. Yadav's house from where they started shouting slogans. In the midst of all the chaos, Mr. Yadav came out to meet her but there was a heated exchange between the two as she refused to hand over any memorandum of grievances in writing. Ms. Patkar, along with her supporters, sat on a protest demonstration right on the spot.

Talking to a group of newspersons, Ms. Patkar said that the Madhya Pradesh Government had failed to project its stand properly before the Supreme Court on the issue of raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam from 95 to 100 metres. It was due to this reason that permission was promptly given for raising the dam's height, she pointed out. She also alleged that those affected by the dam were not rehabilitated properly.

When Ms. Patkar was continuing with her dharna this afternoon, Mr. Yadav, who holds the Water Resources and Narmada Valley Development portfolio, told The Hindu that an FIR had been filed against the NBA activists as they had trespassed into his house. He said that it was unfortunate that instead of following the normal procedure of seeking an appointment, the NBA leader had forcibly entered his official residence.

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