BHUJ, April 21: A host of Rashtriya Janata Party leaders, led by former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, will join the party's Narmada Rath Yatra from Thursday from Narayan Sarovar on the western most tip of Kutch to Kevadia colony in Broach to create awareness over the pending project.Former State Finance Minister Babubhai Meghaji Shah, who is here for preparatory work with other party leaders and workers , told reporters on Tuesday that the Narmada river is the lifeline of the State, specially of the perennially water-starved 8,215 villages and 135 towns in Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat. He said although Rs 6,400 crore had been spend till this February, there was no sign of immediate re-start of the work which was stopped two years back.Shah said not only the State was losing a daily income of Rs 7 crore, but it is also paying an interest of Rs 2 crore per day because of non-completion of the project.He said the so-called `concern' of the Madhya Pradesh government for the project affected people (PAP) was false as the State government had allotted residential plots of 50 sq metres and financial assistance of Rs 10,000 for completing dwelling houses for them. Alternately a house built on 45 sq metres land at a cost of Rs 45,000 was also offered to the displaced family. He said the government had already allotted 15,465 hectares for agriculture and opened 88 primary schools in the new settlement area.To a query, Shah said the next stage of the agitation would be holding of a mammoth rally in New Delhi and submitting a memorandum to the Supreme Court where the matter is lying pending.He said the yatra would be flagged off at 10 a.m. on Thursday at Narayan Sarovar. It will halt for the night at Bhuj, cross the border district to reach Santalpur in Banaskantha district on Saturday. It will be at Dhangadhra, Halvad Morbi on Sunday, at Vakaner, Limbadi, Viramgam and Sanand on Monday, at Gandhinagar Zomat Kapadvanj and Savali on Wednesday, at Vadodara, Dabhoi and Bodoli on Thursday and at Kevadia colony on Friday where a public meeting will be held.He said Madhusudhan Shastri, Pravinsinh Jadeja, Narsinh Padhiyar, Pravin Rajpal, Girish Patel and Vishnu Pandya would join the yatra.
