The Union government has decided not to go ahead with the Par-Tapi-Narmada river-linking project due to protests against it by Adivasi communities, PTI reported.
Residents of Gujarat’s Valsad, Dangs and Navsari districts have expressed fears that the project may displace people and destroy their livelihoods.
CR Paatil, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gujarat chief, said that he met Union ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi on Monday, and urged them not to proceed with the project.
“They [Union ministers] have assured us that until Maharashtra and Gujarat – the two states involved in the project – give their written consent for the project, it cannot be given a go-ahead,” Patil said.
The project was aimed at transferring water from the Western Ghats to the dry areas of Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat, according to The Hindu. It sought to link the three rivers Par, Tapi and Narmada through seven reservoirs – six in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra.
In February, Sitharaman had said in her Union Budget speech that the Union government would soon materialise the Par-Tapi-Narmada river-linking project, according to The Indian Express.
Since then, the Congress has led many protests against the project in the districts of Valsad, Tapi and Dangs.
Paatil on Tuesday accused Opposition parties of instigating the Adivasi communities for their benefit. “They blamed it on the BJP while forgetting that the project was launched when [Congress leader] Manmohan Singh was the prime minister,” he said, according to PTI.
State Tribal Development Minister Naresh Patel said that the BJP would not agree to a project if it were to displace the tribal people. “The Congress and other organisations created an atmosphere of fear among tribals by talking about their displacement...we all know that no central project will succeed until the state agrees to it.”
Anant Patel, Congress MLA from the Vansda constituency in the Navsari district, said that the party does not believe in BJP leaders’ assurances, according to The Indian Express. “We want a white paper from the Central government,” Patel said. “If they don’t come up with white paper (shwetpatra), we will continue our future public meetings in South Gujarat.”
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