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

dam-l LS: Rally for the Valley Gathers Momentum



The Hindu, August 1, 1999

Rally for the valley gathers momentum

By Gargi Parsai

PATHRAD (MADHYA PRADESH), JULY 31. In a remarkable display of solidarity, 
hundreds and thousands of men and women gathered on the banks of the Narmada 
here today to lodge their protest against the Maheshwar dam, which has been 
contracted to a private company by the Madhya Pradesh Government. The 
offshoot of this privatisation is that the builders of the dam have struck 
off their rolls several villages which are going to be submerged here, 110 
km from Indore. The dam is one of the 3,000 proposed to be built in the 
Narmada Valley.

Threatened with the prospect of losing their livelihood, homes and 
cultivable lands, all of the 61 villages are united in their struggle for 
their rights. At the entrance to this village, which is the nerve-centre of 
the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) here, stands a notice: ``Any official 
associated with the Maheshwar dam is banned from entering the village.''

Men and women in equal number travelled from a radius of up to 30 km to take 
part in today's mammoth public meeting which was addressed among others by 
the Booker Prize-winning author Ms. Arundhati Roy. Overwhelmed while 
addressing the meeting, Ms. Roy said: ``I have never seen such a scene 
before. Those who think NBA is lying should see this. So many people cannot 
lie.''

The meeting was unique in that there was no conspicuous police presence. If 
anything, a police van was discreetly following the ``Rally for the Valley'' 
buses carrying Ms. Arundhati Roy and 300 others from different parts of the 
country.

Nearly 50 mediapersons from India and abroad are in the rally. ``Koi nahi 
hatega, bandh nahi banega'' (``Nobody will move, the dam will not be 
constructed'') is the slogan people raised as they walked in an endless 
stream to the banks of the Narmada where 500 boatmen had parked their boats 
to greet the rally.


_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com