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dam-l LS: Samarpit Dal in Shoulder-Deep Water
NBA Press Note 5pm Tuesday, 21-9-99
Samarpit Dal in Shoulder deep water. Water enters Luharia's house in
Jalsindhi in Madhya Pradesh. Waters continue to rise.
In a serious development, the waters in Domkhedi satyagraha house
rose to four and a half feet where Medha Patkar, Sitarambhai Patidar
and Devram Kanera of the Samarpit Dal - the dedicated squad of the
Andolan has been standing in water since 1 pm yesterday. The waters had
rising to their shoulder at 10 am today morning. They have been
standing in the water for more than 10 hours and waters are steadily
rising. The administration has been totally absent from the vicinity.
Medha and 135 people were arrested on the 18th from waist deep waters
from village Pipalchop and were released on the 19th. From 20th the
waters rose again and the Samarpit Dal has been standing in the waters
once again. At Domkhedi there are more than 400 people near the
satyagraha house singing andolan songs.
At Jalsindhi, Madhya Pradesh, the waters have entered
the lowest house of Luharia Shankaria where more than 100 people are in
the house ready to face waters including the village leaders, Bawa
Muharia, Kailash, etc and NBA activists Alok Agrawal and Chittarupa
Palit.
This is the third time that the waters in the valley have risen -
this time it has been almost a meter more than the highest level
reached on the previous two occasions and the waters have been flooding
the fields, and houses in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh since 17th
evening. People, their houses and fields have been under 1 to 4.5 feet
water since 4 days suffering serious damage to property and facing
extreme hardships. But at the same time, the people of the Narmada
Valley and the activists of the Andolan and NBA leader Medha Patkar have
stood firm in their resolve that they will drown but not move.
Meanwhile reports are coming in from support groups of protest programs
from Delhi, Bombay, Madras, etc. On 20-9-99, the NBA support group in
Bombay had a road block where 25 were arrested. At Delhi activists,
leaders of people's movements, students and intellectuals confronted
the CM of Maharashtra who is on a visit there. The CM, was unable to
answer the questions placed before him and rushed away from the scene.
Eighty people were arrested from there. At Delhi more than 300 people
formed a human chain in protest against the submergence today in front
of the ITO.
More over fifteen representatives from the Sahayog Yatra that has
reached Delhi consisting of supporters from all over the country met the
President and briefed him on the situation in the Narmada Valley, the
violation of human rights of the tribals, the flaws of Sardar Sarovar
Project and have appealed to him to do the needful urgently. The
President and Mrs Usha Narayan also present on the occasion, listened to
the delegation patiently and with interest. He has been also invited by
the delegation to personally come on a visit to the Narmada valley. At
Pune, the NBA support group has planned a demonstration before the
collector office - the report is still awaited. At Madras, the National
Fishworkers Forum had a public demonstration in support of NBA on
20-9-99.
Stop Press: We have information from press sources who have in turn
information from the district administration Nandurbar, that more than
150 people have been arrested including Medha Patkar from Domkhedi at
4.30 pm.
The waters are still rising. The level at the dam site has gone upto
98.59 mts at 4pm. This indicates increase in the water level in houses
at Bharad, Sikka, Pipalchop, Jalsindhi, etc where people are ready to
face any eventuality.
Nandini Oza.
5 pm.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
<www.narmada.org>
Shripad Dharmadhikary, Baroda: nba@lwbdq.lwbbs.net Tel +91 265 382232
Jharana Jhaveri, Delhi: janmadhyam@vsnl.com Tel. +91 11 2211851
Pervin Jehangir, Mumbai: jehangir@giasbmc.vsnl.net.in
Tel. +91 22 2184779 / 2185832
Venu Madhav Govindu, New Jersey : venu@narmada.org +1 609 951 2823 (o)
Patrick McCully, California: patrick@irn.org
Tel. +1 510 848 1155 (o) +1 510 528 2930 (h) +1 510 499 9778 (mobile)
Peter Bosshard, Switzerland: finance@evb.ch Tel. +49 1271 6425
Alex Wilks, England: bwref@gn.apc.org Tel. +44 171 523 2170