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dam-l LS: Medha will not be allowed to enter Ahmedabad: BJP



Source: The Times of India, Ahmedabad, May 27, 2000

Story ONE:

Medha will not be allowed to enter Ahmedabad: BJP

               AHMEDABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary
               Gordhanbhai Zadaphia on Friday said his party would not
               allow Narmada Bachao Agitation (NBA) leader Medha
               Patker and her associates to enter the city.

               While speaking to newsmen at the BJP office, Zadaphia
               said NBA had created several hurdles against the Narmada
               project and the people of the state were eagerly awaiting
               the flow of waters from the dam. The state government has
               so far spent more than Rs 10,000 crores. The Gujarat
               Chamber of Commerce and Industry had invited Patker
               and Arundhati Roy to discuss the project in June.

               When asked whether the party would pressurise the
               administration to ban her entry into the state in view of the
               popular feelings for the project, Zadaphia said it was up to
               the government to decide. He said the BJP workers would
               form a human chain to stop her from entering the city. "We
               will not ask the GCCI to cancel the programme as it is an
               autonomous body of trade and industry."

               Strongly rebutting leader of Opposition Amarsinh
               Chaudhary's charge that the popularity of the chief minister
               was declining, Zadaphia said that he should not be oblivious
               of the fact that Keshubhai had been re-elected after the
               coup engineered by the Congress in 1995. "Chaudhary
               should worry about AICC president Sonia Gandhi's
               popularity that has registered a nose-dive."

               While referring to Chaudhary's suggestion that Union rural
               development minister Sunderlal Patwa should direct
               Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh keep the
               height of the dam at 110 metre height, Zadaphia said the
               minister has never come in the way of Gujarat, while Singh
               has been opposing the project.

               He also contested Chaudhary's contention that the BJP
               would lose half of the municipal corporations and
               municipalities if election were announced. He said, "We will
               win more municipalities and panchayats."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

STORY TWO

               Medha's organisation gets funds from abroad: Vyas

               GANDHINAGAR: Narmada development minister Jay
               Narayan Vyas and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam
               chairman Bhupendrasinh Chudasma on Friday warned
               Narmadao Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar and
               other activists to refrain from criticising the project,
               particularly when the state government was fighting a grim
               battle on water crisis due to the drought in more than 9,000
               villages.

               Vyas regretted that NBA, that has no roots in India and
               was being assisted from foreign platforms, has no right
               whatsoever to challenge the project that was being
               implemented as per the recommendations of the Narmada
               Water Dispute Tribunal.

               Chudasma reiterated that Patker and the NBA was getting
               huge financial assistance from abroad for continuing their
               movement aimed at stalling the project. The NBA leaders
               have been asked to withdraw their agitation and extend full
               support to Gujarat in completing the project.

               In a statement, Vyas said that it was time for Patkar and
               other so-called environmentalists to shun negative campaign
               for the project that was the lifeline for Gujarat. He asked
               them to help in a constructive manner so that the project
               that was constantly mired in legal tussles could be expedited
               in the larger interest of the people of the state.

               While denying the charge levelled by Patkar that the state
               government was maligning the NBA, Vyas said it was
               otherwise as she and her colleagues were blaming the
               government for the unprecedented water crisis. This, he
               said, despite it making the best possible efforts to provide
               water to the farthest of villages.

               Lashing out at statements issued by NBA leaders, Vyas
               said it was really unfortunate that NBA and other
               environmentalists were blaming the state government for the
               situation. He charged that it was mainly due to obstacles
               raised by NBA against the ambitious project that more than
               9,000 villages were reeling under acute drought. "Thus it
               was Patkar who created the drought," he said.

               "Not a single NBA activist has even set up a small water
               kiosk at the relief sites or in a scarcity-hit village in
               Saurashtra," Vyas said, adding that the people of Gujarat
               and other states have seen through their gameplan.

               "They are exposed and it is no more possible for them to
               hold the people of Gujarat to ransom."

               Once the project was completed, the Narmada waters
               would save Saurashtra and North Gujarat from frequent
               droughts. Chudasma strongly contested the statement of
               Patkar that the state government has failed to carry out
               water conservation programmes. He said Patker should
               have taken pains to go through the statistics on water
               conservation projects in which Gujarat was almost on the
               top in the country.