Luminaries support NBA plea

PUNE, March 31: Doyen of Hindustani music Pt Bhimsen Joshi, world-renowned astrophysisist Dr Jayant Naralikar with wife Mangala and litterateur-philanthropist P L Deshpande and his writer wife Sunita have endorsed the Narmada Bachao Andolan NBA plea to the President of India calling for his intervention in the raising of the height of the contentious Sardar Sarovar dam.

Many other luminaries from the fields of art, literature and judiciary including the Booker laureate Arundhati Roy and lensman Raghu Rai have supported the NBA apprehensions over the Supreme Court allowing the increase in the height of the dam by about five meters, sans any certainty of lands to rehabilitate the affected tribals, an NBA spokesperson here said today.

The apex court in an interim order on February 18, 1999 had given a go ahead to the authorities to increase the height of the dam by about five meters.

Raising of height of the dam would submerge several tribal villages, said the NBA letter making a point that the claims on availability of land for rehabilitation were conflicting and were disputed by the Government authorities themselves besides being flayed by the tribals for being false and concocted.

The impending submergence would be in violation of the categorical directions of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award which said that in no event submergence precedes rehabilitation, the letter added.