Medha Patkar’s suspicious movement near Sardar Sarovar

Gujarat’s Narmada district police received a message on Wednesday informing that controversial NGO operator Medha Patkar was seen in Gujarat village near Narmada dam, however after checking into this, the police confirmed that Medha was actually visiting a bordering village Chimalkhedi in Maharashtra where she was holding a meeting with local tribal people. The matter was taken seriously by the district police because Chimalkhedi is located on upstream side of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam. The village is located in the area that is likely to submerge due to Sardar sarovar project. Moreover Medha reached Chimalkhedi through Gujarat’s Narmada district’s Jetpura-Haripura village area by boarding a boat. Thus she was in Gujarat for a brief time without the knowledge of district administration.

It should be mentioned that recently Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary Ratnakaran Gaikwad had visited the dam. The construction work at the dam site has been halted sice December 2006. Central official Dhruvkumar had visited the site early this year with a central delegation and had assured that remaining work of dam would be started soon, however the work has not started yet.