Jal Satyagraha protestors have rejected Madhya Pradesh government’s offer to accept another piece of land, which the protesting farmers believe is infertile.
Speaking to ANI, a protestor claimed that the land offered to them was infertile and was encroached upon by locals, who had warned them not to come back.
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The ‘Jal Satyagraha’ protest – as a part of which farmers are standing waist-deep in river Narmada in the state’s Khandwa district against the raising of the dam’s water level – entered its 27th day today.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Wednesday accused the Madhya Pradesh government of turning “despotic” and pro-corporate, and alleged that it was not serious about the rehabilitation of farmers affected by the Omkareshwar dam project.
“The BJP government in MP under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has turned despotic and pro-corporate like (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi at the Centre,” NBA leader Chitraroopa Palit alleged while talking to reporters here.
On the other hand, the state government is maintaining that people affected by the project have been adequately and abundantly compensated.
On April 25, Chouhan had said that 213 families had not yet accepted the rehabilitation package, as they were being misguided by some forces opposed to development.
The NBA and those who were backing the agitation were anti-development, he declared.
(With PTI inputs)
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