Sardar Sarovar dam scam bigger than Vyapam: Patkar

Objecting to the raising of Sardar Sarovar dam's height from 112 metres to 139 metres, Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar on Tuesday described it as a scam bigger than the Vyapam admission and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh.

Patkar said the Gujarat government had issued Rs.2,300 crore for rehabilitating the Sardar Sarovar dam affected people but a scam of Rs.1,000 crore has occurred in that too, as a total of 2,143 families despite being eligible have not been allocated land and 54 villages have been declared out of the inundation area.

The social crusader accused the Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments of trying to benefit industrial houses under a conspiracy.

Stating that the dam's height was being raised to benefit Gujarat which would leave Madhya Pradesh without even a drop of water, Patkar said measures were on to raise the dam's height from 112 metre to 139 metre which would leave 244 villages along with Dhanpuri town, in the 214 km area, at the risk of being inundated, jeopardising the lives of about 45,000 families.