Social outfits take up cudgels for Medha

HALF-A-DOZEN SOCIAL organisations staged a dharna at the district magistrate’s office here on Monday in support of Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar.

They handed over a memorandum, demanding proper resettlement of all people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar project. They raised slogans against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for observing a fast to oppose any move to suspend construction work at the Sardar Sarovar project site.

Samajwadi Janparishad, Communist Party (M) workers, People’s Union for Civil Liberties activists and members of Insaaf and People’s Forum participated in the dharna.

They accused the Union Government of succumbing to pressure of foreign capital. They said both the State and the Union Governments were working on the project, which did not benefit people.

Senior leader Gunjeshwari Prasad, former MLA Ashwani Kumar, Rajpal Mishra, Subhash Chandra, Rajesh Sahni, Fateh Bahadur Singh, Dr Aziz Ahmad, Irfan Ahmad, Dr Rameshwar Gupta, Bajrangi Lal Nishad, Sanjay Pandey, Ashok Chaudhary, Abdul Ghafoor Ansari and others blamed the Central Government for displacing people and threatened to launch a massive movement against it. 

They said in the name of development, the Centre was pursuing  policies that would lead to displacement of Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections. 

Hitting out at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, office bearers of social organisations said he was deceiving the SC by observing fast. They claimed he had no interest in uplift of the downtrodden.