The following newspaper report was published on 8th April, 2006.
"The government’s insensitivity towards Medha Patkar’s fast-unto-death and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) dharna in Delhi is of a piece with the long years of systemic apathy to the larger issue of rehabilitation of local communities, either ousted or facing displacement, due to the ongoing Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP).
The callous disregard with which the government treats such peaceful protest, conducted within the legal-instit»tional framework of the nation-state and die legitimate demands they raise, sends out rather disturbing signal
What do you think were the reasons for the protest by the affected people? What reason could the government have for ‘callous disregard’ of the protest?
Ans. The main reason for the protest was that the loeal communities were being displaced from where they lived and were also losing their livelihood. They wanted proper relief and rehabilitation (R and R here in after).
The government was very slow in granting these facilities for many reasons. One was that a very large number of people were being displaced. Another reason was that the amount of money required for R and R was too high and had not been budgeted for in the cost analysis for the project. Another reason could be that the officials managing the R and R were too slow in processing this requirement.