<p>Over 2000 families of 57 villages in the Narmada valley are facing a threat of inundation following the Gujarat government’s unilateral decision to fill the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the optimum height of 135.12 meters. As per the schedule set by the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), the dam was not to be filled to the brim before September 30, a time around which the monsoon withdraws.</p>.<p>Gujarat went ahead with the decision to fill the dam while heavy rain is forecast in the Sardar Sarovar Dam catchment area in the next 48 hours. Raising a strong objection to Gujarat’s move, Madhya Pradesh government has sought the Union Water Resources Ministry’s intervention in the matter.</p>.<p>On September 3, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar ended her nine-day long indefinite fast over incomplete rehabilitation of the project affected people (PAP), following the Madhya Pradesh government’s assurance that it would take up the issue with the Gujarat counterpart in the earnest.</p>.<p>Her main grouse is that the Kamal Nath government is not serious about the fate of nearly 32,000 oustees who are on the verge of inundation, owing to the Gujarat government’s decision to go ahead with the plan to fill the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the brim.</p>.<p>A day after she ended her indefinite fast, the Bagda village in Badwani district is inundated by the Narmada's backwaters due to the filling of the dam. </p>.<p>Narmada valley department additional chief secretary M Gopal Reddy on Wednesday wrote a letter to the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) chairman and water resources secretary UP Singh, drawing the Centre’s attention to the violation of the schedule for filling the dam.</p>.<p>Both Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had agreed to the schedule set by the NCA in a joint meeting in New Delhi on May 10, that the dam will not be filled before September 30. The Vijay Rupani government constituted a subcommittee, which decided to ignore the schedule without taking MP government into confidence. </p>
<p>Over 2000 families of 57 villages in the Narmada valley are facing a threat of inundation following the Gujarat government’s unilateral decision to fill the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the optimum height of 135.12 meters. As per the schedule set by the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), the dam was not to be filled to the brim before September 30, a time around which the monsoon withdraws.</p>.<p>Gujarat went ahead with the decision to fill the dam while heavy rain is forecast in the Sardar Sarovar Dam catchment area in the next 48 hours. Raising a strong objection to Gujarat’s move, Madhya Pradesh government has sought the Union Water Resources Ministry’s intervention in the matter.</p>.<p>On September 3, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar ended her nine-day long indefinite fast over incomplete rehabilitation of the project affected people (PAP), following the Madhya Pradesh government’s assurance that it would take up the issue with the Gujarat counterpart in the earnest.</p>.<p>Her main grouse is that the Kamal Nath government is not serious about the fate of nearly 32,000 oustees who are on the verge of inundation, owing to the Gujarat government’s decision to go ahead with the plan to fill the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the brim.</p>.<p>A day after she ended her indefinite fast, the Bagda village in Badwani district is inundated by the Narmada's backwaters due to the filling of the dam. </p>.<p>Narmada valley department additional chief secretary M Gopal Reddy on Wednesday wrote a letter to the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) chairman and water resources secretary UP Singh, drawing the Centre’s attention to the violation of the schedule for filling the dam.</p>.<p>Both Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had agreed to the schedule set by the NCA in a joint meeting in New Delhi on May 10, that the dam will not be filled before September 30. The Vijay Rupani government constituted a subcommittee, which decided to ignore the schedule without taking MP government into confidence. </p>
