NEW DELHI : The Narmada Bacho Andolan (NBA) has demanded the immediate release of its fasting leader Medha Patkar from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here, where she was removed at midnight on Wednesday night.

Ms. Patkar, who along with another protester, Jamsingh Nargave, was forcibly taken to the hospital by the police, said her "anshan" continued.

The NBA is protesting against raising the height of the Narmada dam even as several thousand families remain to be rehabilitated.

Three NBA workers including a dam oustee, Bhagwatibehan, who had been on an indefinite fast along with Ms. Patkar, continued their protest at the Jantar Mantar dharna site here on Thursday. For Bhagwatibehn is was the ninth day of fast.

Mistaken identity

On Wednesday night Vijaya Chauhan, from Mumbai, who is an NBA sympathiser and Ms. Patkar's friend, was forcibly lifted and put on a stretcher though she protested saying she was not on fast. Because of her grey hair, the police mistook her for Ms. Patkar and she was subjected to medical examination. Likewise, they picked up two others mistaking them for Ms. Patkar. In the melee, Bhagwatibehn was left out.

Jamsingh Nargave from Madhya Pradesh was taken to the casualty wing and forcibly put on intravenous saline drip. Later, he declared he was on fast and refused the drip.

According to NBA workers, the police swooped on them while most of them were asleep. They roughed up several members including women. Without provocation, they pulled some women by the hair and dragged them into vans, the workers alleged.

More join fast

In protest, more people joined the fast on Thursday. They include Mona Das, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union; Dananjaoi Tripathi, vice-president;Avadesh from the All-India Students Association and JNU professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy

Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said he was one of the first to reach the Parliament Police station and urged the police to release the detainees.

Several prominent and concerned citizens continued to pour in at the dharna site. Writer Arundhati Roy sat with the protesters for a long time, while the former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, telephonically enquired about Ms. Patkar's health.

Reacting to the police action, Aruna Roy's National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has protested against "distortion of facts and efforts at spreading misinformation" on the status of rehabilitation of people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Project.

"Though the homes of thousands are threatened with submersion, most of these families have yet to be given alternative land and otherwise suitably rehabilitated. And yet, government committees continue to turn a blind eye and play around with official data that is clearly inaccurate."

The NCPRI has demanded that "independent credible observers" be immediately despatched to the Narmada Valley for a spot assessment and to report the true status of rehabilitation.

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