Bhopal : Veteran social activist Medha Patkar, on Saturday, decided to continue her fast-unto-death after a team of senior officers, which had reached the protest venue Chikalda in Badwani district , to persuade her to give up the fast, refused to give any assurance regarding rehabilitation of the oustees. They just said they would convey the demands and grievances of the Narmada oustees to the chief minister.
Medha Patkar is on an indefinite hunger strike for the past ten days, demanding complete rehabilitation of the around 15,000 families whose homes and hearths would be submerged after water is filled up to the FRL in Sardar Sarovar reservoir. Her health is precarious. On Friday, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had appealed to Medha Patkar to give up her fast through Twitter.
A team of three officers comprising Sanjay Dube, commissioner of Indore division, Ajay Sharma, ADG, Indore and Chandrashekhar Borkar, additional secretary in the CM’s secretariat reached Chikalda for talks. Contd. on P8
They told the oustees that they were emissaries of the chief minister. They were also accompanied by Bhaiyu Maharaj, a spriritual guru
The talks were held in full public view, with about 1,500 displaced persons in attendance. Besides Patkar, numerous representatives of the oustees also spoke. They related their tale of woes including miserable condition of the rehabilitation sites, lack of water supply and other basic amenities there and also that they would lose their livelihoods.
The officers heard their complaints patiently, even ignoring the terse language used by some of them, for over three-and-a-half hours in sweltering heat. At the end, Sanjay Dube gave a point-by-point answer to the issues raised by the oustees. Borkar told the gathering that the chief minister was sensitive to the needs and demands of the oustees. “We will convey whatever you all have told us and he will take a decision”.
After this, Medha Patkar declared that her fast would continue and so would the agitation.
Oustees protested rather bizarre arrangements made at resettlement sites like common cattle sheds. “Do you expect that all residents will keep their cattle in a common shed,” one of oustees asked officers. The resettlement sites were merely rows of tin structures with no basic amenities, they said. They said claims of government regarding re-settlement were a big sham. During the talks, the oustees appeared very restive but they maintained perfect calm.
Medha Patkar said that houses did not mean rehabilitation. Government should ensure that oustees, should be able to earn livelihood. A few oustees suggested that fear of earning Modi’s ire was preventing CM from considering their demands. “Assembly elections are due in Gujarat and Modi wants to ensure that Narmada water reaches there as soon as possible. What happens to us is of no consequence to him,” one of the oustees said.
