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- By Parinda News Bureau, April 18, 2006, 09:35 IST
The Supreme Court has threatened to stop work on the construction of the dam on River Narmada if the states in the river basin do not rehabilitate the displaced people in the true letter and spirit of an earlier judgement in 2000.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice YK Sabharwal has directed all the concerned parties to file reply to the petition filed by the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the application moved by the Centre on the issue within a week.
The Apex court has posted the matter for further hearing on May 1 before a regular Bench of three judges.
The court clarified that during the pendency of these matters it would not preclude the Centre to take steps to resolve the controversy in accordance with the judgement of this court.
The court said that the construction work on the Sardar Sarovar Project on the River Narmada should go on side by side with effective rehabilitation of the affected people.
"What is necessary is that the issue should not be discussed in an emotive and charged atmosphere but in a congenial atmosphere... such a type of dispute is a threat to public security," observed the Bench.
The Bench heared a petition filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan seeking a halt to the construction of the dam involving increase of its height from 110 metres to 122 metres.
"You cannot satisfy all but rehabilitation has to be reasonable and it requires a statesman-like approach," the court said.
The Centre informed the court that the affected would be completely rehabilitated before August 2006, the period of onset of monsoon.
Following court's order and Centre's assurance, environmental activist Medha Patkar on Monday called off her 20-day-old fast against the Sardar Sarovar dam.
"The Supreme Court order is a ray of hope for thousands of families in the three states (of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat)," Patkar told Narmada Bachao Andolan activists and reporters.
Patkar started her fast at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital on March 29 to protest the raising of the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam. Police forcibly admitted her to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on April 6 after her condition deteriorated.
She returned to Jantar Mantar on Monday to end her fast and to address her supporters.
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