Harda: A jal satyagraha to demand a reduction of water
level in the Indira Sagar Dam from 262 metres to 260 metres entered the
15th day today in Khardana village of Madhya Pradesh's Harda district.
And now the police have begun cracking down on the protesters who have
been sitting in neck-deep water.
The cops are evicting villagers from the protest site after authorities clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Tuesday, asking villagers to come out of water citing health concerns. Some ambulances have also reached the spot.
However, the police are facing problems in bringing these protesters out of water as they continue with their key demands that the water level of the dam should be brought down and affected people be rehabilitated. After the prohibitory orders were imposed in the area yesterday, the protesters had intensified their agitation and moved at least 200 metres away from the banks, into the water. 200 others are protesting outside.
The district authorities, meanwhile, say that the government has agreed
to 14 of the protesters' 16 demands. Harda's Sub-Divisional Magistrate
(SDM) Manjusha Rai, Collector Sudam Khade and the Superintendent of
Police are at the protest site and are taking stock of the situation.
Over a hundred policemen and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in the area.
The protests in Harda came to prominence after the state government gave into demands of villagers in nearby Khandwa who sat on a jal satyagraha for 17 days. Villagers in Harda allege that while the state government agreed to the demands of Khandwa protesters, it has not addressed their grievances yet. They also accuse the government of "double standards".
The state government has increased the water level in the Indira Sagar dam to 262 metres, which threatens to inundate 19 villages. Three villages are already submerged in water. In fact, the state government plans to further increase the water level in the dam by .02 metres.
"The Chief Minister has not announced anything for us, just for the protesters in Khandwa. He has agreed to bring down the water level there, and to rehabilitate the people affected. Until they will accept our demands we will not leave, the chief minister has done discrimination with us," said one of the protesters.
The protest in Khandwa's Ghogalgaon village ended on Monday after 17 days when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan agreed to lower the water level in the Omkareshwar dam, one of the key demands of the 51 protesters, sitting in neck-deep water.
Both Omkareshwar and Indira Sagar dams are built across the Narmada river and are part of the Indira Sagar Project. The water protests were launched with the help of the Narmada Bachao Andolan to demand proper rehabilitation for land that the villagers have lost and a reduction in the water level of the dam.
The unusual protest was highlighted by the media and brought widespread attention to the villagers sitting in water. The photograph of the shriveled, bruised feet of a woman protester went viral on social networking sites.
The cops are evicting villagers from the protest site after authorities clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Tuesday, asking villagers to come out of water citing health concerns. Some ambulances have also reached the spot.
However, the police are facing problems in bringing these protesters out of water as they continue with their key demands that the water level of the dam should be brought down and affected people be rehabilitated. After the prohibitory orders were imposed in the area yesterday, the protesters had intensified their agitation and moved at least 200 metres away from the banks, into the water. 200 others are protesting outside.
The district authorities, meanwhile, say that the government has agreed
to 14 of the protesters' 16 demands. Harda's Sub-Divisional Magistrate
(SDM) Manjusha Rai, Collector Sudam Khade and the Superintendent of
Police are at the protest site and are taking stock of the situation.Over a hundred policemen and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in the area.
The protests in Harda came to prominence after the state government gave into demands of villagers in nearby Khandwa who sat on a jal satyagraha for 17 days. Villagers in Harda allege that while the state government agreed to the demands of Khandwa protesters, it has not addressed their grievances yet. They also accuse the government of "double standards".
The state government has increased the water level in the Indira Sagar dam to 262 metres, which threatens to inundate 19 villages. Three villages are already submerged in water. In fact, the state government plans to further increase the water level in the dam by .02 metres.
"The Chief Minister has not announced anything for us, just for the protesters in Khandwa. He has agreed to bring down the water level there, and to rehabilitate the people affected. Until they will accept our demands we will not leave, the chief minister has done discrimination with us," said one of the protesters.
The protest in Khandwa's Ghogalgaon village ended on Monday after 17 days when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan agreed to lower the water level in the Omkareshwar dam, one of the key demands of the 51 protesters, sitting in neck-deep water.
Both Omkareshwar and Indira Sagar dams are built across the Narmada river and are part of the Indira Sagar Project. The water protests were launched with the help of the Narmada Bachao Andolan to demand proper rehabilitation for land that the villagers have lost and a reduction in the water level of the dam.
The unusual protest was highlighted by the media and brought widespread attention to the villagers sitting in water. The photograph of the shriveled, bruised feet of a woman protester went viral on social networking sites.
