The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Narmada Bachao Andolan's plea to stop construction work to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam from 110 metres to 121.92 metres at this stage.
Updated at 8.45 pm
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Narmada Bachao Andolan's plea to stop construction work to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam from 110 metres to 121.92 metres at this stage.
The order was passed by a Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal after Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian submitted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a three-member committee to look into the relief and rehabilitation work for project-affected families in Madhya Pradesh and the committee was likely to submit its report by June to him.
The ASG said once the report of the group is available the prime minister will be in a better position to take a decision in the matter.
"We hope and expect the Prime Minister will be able to take a decision on or before July three and the decision taken shall be placed on record," the bench said while posting the matter for further hearing on July 7.
The court also expressed the hope that all the parties concerned would fully cooperate and not cause any obstruction in the work of survey teams constituted by the group.
Expressing disappointment over the Supreme Court's refusal to stay construction work, the Narmada Bachao Andolan said they had been left with no alternative than to launch a "fight to the finish".
Describing the apex court's statement that ''we are not inclined to stop the construction at present'' as a "cruel one'', NBA chief Medha Patkar said,''the dam that is to damn and devastate 35000 and more families now has the court's sanction, which is now to become a death sentence for this most ancient valley and the civilisation.''
Alleging that the Court judgement was "a clear contempt of its own judgements earlier", Patkar said, ''the court has forgotten its own commitments to the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award, both in letter and spirit, and also the Constitutional right to life. Thus, the court has not played fair, nor respected the Constitution.
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