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‘If MP govt can offer 1.2 lakh acres to corporates, why not to the displaced’
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar on Wednesday asked if the Madhya Pradesh could offer 1.2 lakh acres land bank to corporate biggies for investment, why it could not provide the land to around 6,000 Sardar Sarovar Dam-affected people for their rehabilitation.
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar on Wednesday asked if the Madhya Pradesh could offer 1.2 lakh acres land bank to corporate biggies for investment, why it could not provide the land to around 6,000 Sardar Sarovar Dam-affected people for their rehabilitation.
‘People of the land have the first right over the land’
Patkar said the people of the land had the first right over the land. “The state government should give details of this land bank, where they have identified these land parcels and whether they sought the mandatory permission of the local villagers before earmarking the land for the investors,” she said
‘MP govt has provided just 50 hectares to Sardar Sarovar Dam-affected people’
She claimed that while Gujarat and Maharashtra governments had provided 14,000 hectares of land to the Sardar Sarovar Dam project-affected people, the Madhya Pradesh government had provided just 50 hectares to them.
The social activist said the people of the state also wanted to know how much land had been provided to corporate entities in the five investor summits till now and how much employment each investor summit had generated till now.
“The government has spent crores of rupees of tax payers on organising these investor summits. Our demand is that they should (also) come up with a white paper on these summits, how much money has been spent and how much investment has come?” she said.
‘Crores of litres of water from Narmada River will be provided to industrialists’
Patkar said crores of litres of water from the Narmada River will be provided to the industrialists, which would affect the river. “The government has no moral rights to organise Namami Devi Narmade Abhiyan on the Narmada banks from November 11 to protect the river, when they do not care about its waters and the people living around it.”
She also demanded action against middlemen and officials listed in the Jha commission report on irregularities in resettlement and rehabilitation of dam oustees.
The NBA leader said the state government should not take action against the sellers and buyers in the 1,560 fake land sale registries, which have been listed in the Jha commission report.
