[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

dam-l LS: Gujarat Govt. ignores Digvijay's outburst



                               [THE HINDU]

                       Wednesday, February 17, 1999
                             SECTION: Regional


            Section Index | Previous Story | Next Story |

            Gujarat Govt. ignores Digvijay's outburst

            Date: 17-02-1999 :: Pg: 10 :: Col: a

            By Our Special Correspondent

            GANDHINAGAR, Feb. 16.

            The Gujarat Government has refused to make an issue out of the
            Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh's recent
            outburst demanding lowering of the height of the Sardar
 [Image]    Sarovar dam on the Narmada river.
 The BL
 MODE       Describing Mr. Singh's statement on the issue as ``uncalled
 Survey on  for'' when the Supreme Court was seized of the matter, a
 Teenagers  senior official of the Narmada Affairs Department in the State
            said ``we will prefer to ignore Mr. Singh's outburst.''

            The Gujarat Government had no problem in acceding to the M.P.
            Government's earlier demand for a hydrological review of the
            dam after reaching the height of 436 ft. The Narmada Affairs
            Minister, Mr. Jaynarayan Vyas, is confident that the demand
            for hydrological review at 436 ft. neither constitutes any
            change in the dam profile, nor poses any threat to the State's
            consistent stand of honouring the Narmada Tribunal's award of
            dam height at 455 ft.

            According to Mr. Vyas, the records available for the last 10
            years had proved that hydrological review of four out of five
            years show the Narmada flow at over 27 million acre ft. of
            water and the M.P. Government's demand for review of three out
            of five years would surely justify Gujarat's stand. He
            maintained that Mr. Singh's claim of reduction in Narmada flow
            to less than 23 million acre ft. to justify reduction in the
            dam height was erroneous.

            But contrary to the Union Textile Minister, Mr. Kashiram
            Rana'a angry reaction to Mr. Singh's statement, the State
            Narmada Department was in no mood to issue a rejoinder to the
            M.P. Chief Minister. The official pointed out that even in the
            Supreme Court the advocate for the M.P. Government had pointed
            out that the State was not demanding less than 436 ft. height
            including the 55 ft. dam gates. The State Government presumed
            that Mr. Singh's talk of 382 ft. dam height must be excluding
            the gates to which ``we have no problem.'' The State
            Government, however, is in no mood to concede a fresh tribunal
            to decide the height as demanded by Mr. Singh. ``The
            tribunal's award is binding on all the concerned States and
            valid for 45 years,'' Mr. Vyas maintained.

            ---------------------------------------------------------------
            Section Index | Previous Story | Next Story |
            ---------------------------------------------------------------

                Front Page | Lead Stories | National | International |
               Regional | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
                              Classified | Employment |

            Home | Site Map | Search | Archives | Advertisers | What's NEW
                              | About HOL | Feedback |