Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Candlelight vigil held

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Poet Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri has called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene to save the life of Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar who is on a fast in protest against the proposal to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Mr. Namboodiri was speaking at a candlelight vigil organised in front of the Secretariat by `Friends of Narmada' to express solidarity with the agitation waged by Medha Patkar and to demand immediate action to protect her life.

"Everybody, including those who are poor, has the right to life. That is why Medha Patkar is ready to give up her life for the right of the poor to live," said Mr. Namboodiri. The poet appealed to the people who took part in the vigil to send e-mails to the President urging his intervention in the matter. Mr. Namboodiri also read out a resolution saying that the Friends of Narmada were against the kind of development that threw lakhs of poor people into the wastelands of life. Before the height of the dam is raised, all those who would be displaced should be fully rehabilitated, the resolution said.

Poet D.Vinayachandran and architect G. Shankar were among those who addressed the gathering. Freedom fighter K.E. Mammen also participated.

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