MP govt failed to rehabilitate Sardar Sarovar oustees:Scindia

The Congress today claimed in the Lok Sabha that over 40,000 families affected by the Sardar Sarovar project were yet to be rehabilitated in Madhya Pradesh and the state's poor were being "sacrificed" for election in another state, a reference to Gujarat.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar rejected the charge, insisting that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had fulfilled the Supreme Court's order on compensation to the people hit by the project to the last word.
Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia raised the issue during the Zero Hour, in the backdrop of the indefinite fast by activist Medha Patkar and others in Dhar district since July 27 demanding proper rehabilitation of the people affected by the project.

Scindia said the Supreme Court had asked the state government to rehabilitate them by July 31 but over 2.5 lakh people remained untouched by any official measure.
"One state is going to the polls and the poor are being sacrificed in another state," he said.
The chief minister should speak to these people, he said, attacking the BJP government in MP.

Tomar, who hails from the state, accused the Congress leaders of trying to hamper the developmental project which, he said, would benefit people in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Work on the project has been going on since the rule of Jawaharlal Nehru and the order of the apex court was followed to the last word, he said.

Tomar also hit out at Patkar, alleging that she was doing "politics" over the issue.
A group of project-affected people today took out a protest march in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh.
Thousands of families in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani, Dhar, Alirajpur and Khargone districts will have to vacate their houses following the Centre's nod for closing the gates of Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada in neighbouring Gujarat.
Closing of gates -- which will take place in a phased manner -- will lead to rise in water level, leading to submergence of villages in the catchment area in Madhya Pradesh.
The state government had recently said that over 7,000 families were still staying put in the catchment area in MP, and it was trying to persuade them to leave.