MP: 'Jal satyagraha' against Omkareshwar dam water level

A Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader and nine displaced persons have launched 'jal satyagraha' in the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh demanding that water level in the Omkareshwar dam be brought down to protect the 2,000 families living in the catchment areas. The NBA leader Alok Agrawal and others have been standing in waist-deep water since Friday.

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"Our protest in waist-deep water started on Friday and will end only after the water level in Omkareshwar Dam is brought down to 193 meters," Agrawal said at the protest site in Kamankheda village, 60 km from the Khandwa district headquarters.

He said the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC) on October 21 started increasing the water level in the dam, which flooded villages in the catchment areas. Agrawal claimed that 2,000 families have been affected by this move.

As per a Supreme Court ruling the water levels in dams can be increased only after people living in the catchment areas have been completely rehabilitated, Agrawal said. Despite repeated attempts, NRDC officials were not available for comment.

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