People in Narmada's submergence area asked to move to safer

The administration on Wednesday urged the residents of villages in the submergence area of Sardar Sarovar Dam in four districts of Madhya Pradesh to move to safer areas.

Activist Medha Patkar launched a protest in Barwani district, demanding that doors of the dam be opened to avoid submergence of houses around the backwaters.

The dam, built across the Narmada river, is located in Gujarat.

Officials said level of the dam's backwaters has been rising in the districts of Barwani, Dhar, Alirajpur and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh.

Indore divisional commissioner Akash Tripathi said the people living in the submergence area are being requested to shift to safer places.

Permanent rehabilitation sites and temporary tin sheds have been built outside the submergence area, he said.

"We are constantly monitoring the rising level of the Narmada. We have called a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and also deployed motor-boats to evacuate people," Tripathi said.

An official of the Narmada Valley Development Authority told PTI that the Narmada has crossed the danger mark at Rajghat in Barwani district.

Around 6 pm on Wednesday, the river was flowing at 127.40 meters, above the danger mark of 123.28 meters, he said.

The old bridge in the Rajghat village connecting Barwani and Dhar districts is under water, witnesses said.

Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar started an indefinite 'Satyagraha' (protest) in Rajghat, alleging that thousands of people who were displaced by the dam were neither rehabilitated nor paid any compensation.

The protesters demanded that the doors of the dam be opened immediately so that the level of backwaters in Madhya Pradesh can go down and submergence can be averted.