Headlines
Sardar Sarovar dam scam bigger than Vyapam: Patkar
Bhopal, Sep 8
Objecting to the raising of
Sardar Sarovar dam's height from 112 metres to 139 metres, Narmada
Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar on Tuesday described it as a scam
bigger than the Vyapam admission and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh.
Patkar
said the Gujarat government had issued Rs.2,300 crore for
rehabilitating the Sardar Sarovar dam affected people but a scam of
Rs.1,000 crore has occurred in that too, as a total of 2,143 families
despite being eligible have not been allocated land and 54 villages have
been declared out of the inundation area.
The social crusader
accused the Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments of trying to benefit
industrial houses under a conspiracy.
Stating that the dam's
height was being raised to benefit Gujarat which would leave Madhya
Pradesh without even a drop of water, Patkar said measures were on to
raise the dam's height from 112 metre to 139 metre which would leave 244
villages along with Dhanpuri town, in the 214 km area, at the risk of
being inundated, jeopardising the lives of about 45,000 families.