Medha Patkar demands white paper on gas agreements with Reliance

Opposing the handing over of natural resources like gas, coal, land and water to corporate houses, National Alliance of People's Movements National Convenor Medha Patkar demanded the UPA Govt to release a white paper on the agreements reached between the government and the Reliance group for exploration of gas and oil in the country's gas fields, reports Ashok Das.

People's Movements' Medha Patkar on Thursday demanded that the UPA government must come out with a white paper on the agreements reached between the government and the Reliance group for exploration of gas and oil in the country's gas fields.

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Opposing the handing over of natural resources like gas, coal, land and water to corporate houses, she demanded the government to provide all the details of the agreements it had reached with the Reliance Group on all the gas and oil fields given to them right from the Bombay to the Krishna-Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh.

Medha also opposed the Andhra Pradesh government's move to allow the private players to set up water treatment plants in villages for supplying mineral water to poor.

"The government was opening the door for the private sector to convert water as a commodity in villages. It was aimed at reversing the right of the people to get safe and protected drinking water," she said.

The government was working against the spirit of Article 243 of the Constitution and the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments in ignoring the "first right" of the gram sabhas in taking decisions pertaining to the respective villages, she alleged.