By IANS
Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh High Court Friday restrained the state government from disconnecting water and electricity supply to 25 of the 30 villages threatened with submergence by the Omkareshwar dam waters.
"The Jabaplpur bench consisting of Chief Justice Anang Kumar Singh and Justice Ajit Singh directed the government not to disconnect the water or electricity of the villagers or dismantle their houses till further orders," Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist Alok Agarwal told IANS by phone from Jabalpur.
The next date for hearing the case has been fixed as July 24.
Omkareshwar dam project is one of a series of large dams being built on river Narmada.
"Madhya Pradesh High Court had May 18, 2007, directed that the gates of the Omkareshwar dam should not be closed until all the villagers were rehabilitated with agricultural land as per the 1993 Relief & Rehabilitation (R&R) plan of the Project and six months breathing time given to them after the completion of R&R," Agarwal said.
However, the Madhya Pradesh government and the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC) filed Special Leave Petitions stating that of the 30 villages affected by the Omkareshwar dam, 25 would not be affected by the rise in water level up to 189 meters, and the other five villages were already vacated. On this, the Supreme Court June 11 stayed the May 18 decision of the high court.
"Immediately after the apex court order, the state government started coercive measures like severing electricity and water supply in several villages like Ekhand and Gogalgaon by removing transformers," alleged Agarwal, who brought up the matter before the court Tuesday. He sought a ban on the government measures till the rehabilitation and resettlement of the dam affected people.
The demands of the Omkareshwar dam-affected people include agricultural land for the cultivators, land for the adult sons and unmarried adult daughters of the cultivators, and land for the landless families.
Meanwhile, water reportedly entered the low lying villages of the area after the administration closed sluice and radial gates of the dam for filling the reservoir up to a height of 189 meters following the Supreme Court's June 11 orders.
On the other hand people of Gunjari continued their protest against the rise in the dam's water level. Women of the village last week stood in knee-deep water for hours as a mark of protest.
In Khandwa city, hundreds of villagers took out a candlelight procession to highlight their protest.