NJA claims success, Govt unmoved

KEVADIA NARMADA DIST, DECEMBER 5: At the end of the day, Saturday's kar seva programme of the Narmada Jan Andolan NJA at the Sardar Sa...

KEVADIA NARMADA DIST, DECEMBER 5: At the end of the day, Saturday8217;s kar seva programme of the Narmada Jan Andolan NJA at the Sardar Sarovar Project SSP dam site provided nothing more than claims and counter-claims.NJA claimed its programme was a resounding success despite the detention of several of its activists, and the state government claimed that it had succeeded in preventing the kar seva. The government claimed that the 8220;so-called kar seva8221; performed by Joshi was, in fact, at a place well downstream of the dam to which the Government had never objected to in the first place, and not at the site where NJA had originally insisted it would perform kar seva.

Joshi, speaking to The Indian Express, said that earlier, kar seva had been planned 8220;upstream, from where water could be poured from parallel position to the main canal8221;. He said that they had performed kar seva on Saturday by drawing water from 8220;near the power house8221; and that both these places could technically be referred to as 8220;thedam site8221;. Joshi then said that since the government had drained water from the original site, NJA performed kar seva a little away, where water was available.

He said that since kar seva had not been performed 8220;at the site decided earlier8221;, the government could make claims that suited its advantage.With the confusion over the exact location, both the NJA and the state government had enough scope to claim success, which they did. Most reporters did not see Joshi and his supporters perform the kar seva.

Security was tight at the dam site and in the nearby districts, with over 5,000 kar sevaks being held, according to officials. Activists, however, alleged that more had been held.

Led by Joshi, former Union minister Urmila Patel and former Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited SSNNL chairman Sanat Mehta, kar sevaks reportedly poured water into the main canal from what had gathered near the dam and dyke area.

While the NJA claimed it to be a success and said that the first chapter had ended withsprinkling of water in the main canal8217;, government officials said that the water was drawn exactly from the place which was suggested by the state government.

Joshi said the next phase of his agitation would be announced in due course. NJA was to hold a meeting to decide this on Saturday.

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Inspector General of Police Vadodara range D D Tuteja said NJA leaders were stopped by the police patrolling the area. He said Joshi, Satyajit Gaekwad, Shailesh Mehta, Dhirubhai Bhil were detained and taken to Karjan Dam Rest House. These top leaders were arrested, according to Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya. Tuteja said Urmilaben had reached the site on horseback.

Top NJA leaders reached the nearest village to the main canal late on Friday night. From there, they reportedly walked a distance of nearly 15 kilometres before reaching the spot to perform the kar seva.

A few kar sevak leaders also took a route from Vadodara that effectively evaded the police. But for the rest of them, it was certainly not aneasy day. They were held at several places.

Meanwhile, Minister for Narmada Development Jaynarayan Vyas said the NJA8217;s kar seva was a fiasco.8220;If he wanted to perform kar seva downstream, the government would have supported it,8221; Vyas said. 8220;NJA claimed two lakh would turn up, but far fewer did. And people of Gujarat had stayed away.8221;Haren Pandya said police protection around the dam site would continue for a while.