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Journalism of Courage
Over a dozen villagers from Narmada district and four Vadodara-based activists were detained by Narmada police to prevent them from protesting at the site of the inaugural function of the Statue of Unity attended by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leader L K Advani.
Activists Rohit Prajapati,who was among those detained by the police till 2 pm on Thursday until the function at Kevadia Colony completed,said that the police followed them as they entered Devalia in Narmada on Wednesday evening. They were later asked not to go out from a house in Rajpipla.
Other villagers were detained from a gathering at Indravarna village where they had planned a peaceful protest after the state government refused to commit itself on the construction of Garudeshwar weir and did not assure them whether it will acquire land for tourism development in the region.
At midnight,several villagers were detained illegally to create atmosphere of terror inside villages to prevent planned well-announced peaceful hunger strike in villages, he said.
The protesters had made five demands,including supply of water from the Narmada and Karjan dams to the nearby villages for irrigation and drinking purposes,prevention of Kevadia Areas Development Authority (KADA) from acquiring their land,and formation of a new Garudeshwar taluka.
While the government agreed upon most of their demands,it did not commit on whether it will acquire land for tourism,which has not gone down well.
We had only announced symbolic protest in our own houses by staging day-long hunger strike. We were not to assemble at any public place or sit on dharana at any place. The sit-on protest in our own home is aimed at protecting our land,forest,livelihood,river, Prajapati said.
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