The Hindu : New Delhi News : Water Resources officials to visit Narmada Valley

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Friday, Dec 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Water Resources officials to visit Narmada Valley

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 2. Officials of the Union Ministry for Water Resources will be visiting the Narmada Valley next week to assess the rehabilitation and resettlement of people affected by the controversial Sardar Sarvar Project in Gujarat. The project displaces people in the basin States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Rajasthan is the fourth beneficiary State in the project.

Later, the Water Resources Minister, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, will visit various projects including the Narmada dam project between December and January and hold talks with various Chief Ministers to evolve a consensus on the proposed rivers interlinking programme.

This has been done at the behest of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who last week had asked the Water Resources Minister, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, to visit the valley to assess the situation. While the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment has shown "zero families'' that are to be rehabilitated at the current height of the dam, the Narmada Bachao Andolan has said that more than 10,000 families are yet to be rehabilitated as per the norms.

Participating in the National Convention on Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation organised by the National Alliance of People's Movement, Mr Das Munshi said he would take into account views of activist organisations before reviewing the National Rehabilitation Policy. The Minister also proposed to review the National water Policy.

He said he would revisit the Damodar Valley Project in Bihar-Jharkhand which is said to have changed the age-old traditional agriculture pattern in the region. In the next Union Budget there should be a provision for better water utilisation, he added.

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