Gujarat drags feet on Narmada kar seva

Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel last week reportedly told NJA to postpone the programme, planned December 4 onward, while Narmada Development Minister Jaynarayan Vyas told The Indian Express, “The intentions of the kar seva are good, but there are other ways of achieving the demands.”

Vyas said the Government was trying to work out a solution that would ensure that nothing comes in the way of the early completion of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP).

Asked if ban orders would be imposed at the dam site, the minister said the question was difficult to answer at the moment. He said the Government would decide in a few days whether to invite Joshi for talks.

The Chief Minister had reportedly told NJA to postpone the kar seva, stating that it might be taken as an attempt to prejudice the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had objected to the kar seva, stating that the matter is pending in the Supreme Court.

Vyas said he was unaware of what transpired between the Chief Minister and NJA members at their meeting last week.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of heads of co-operative mandalis from various parts of the district at the Sardar Bhavan, Joshi exhorted pro-dam volunteers to go ahead with the kar seva irrespective of the Government’s stand.

Coming down heavily on politicians, Joshi alleged that they were trying to gain political mileage out of the Narmada issue. Observing that the Narmada issue had become like gangrene, Joshi said that to solve the problems a kar seva has been planned.

“If the Government thinks that we are doing anything wrong, it can arrest us,” he went on to say.

Joshi also criticised reported misconceptions being generated by certain non-governmental organisations that water from the Narmada project would not reach Saurashtra and that it would be used up by sugar industries along the route of the canal.

The co-operative mandali leaders promised milk for kar seva; the farmers were also asked to chip in with vegetables and fruits. Taluka level teams are being formed to assign responsibility for the programme.