BBC News Online: World: South Asia

'Rally for the Valley'

Women from Maheshwar village threaten to commit suicide in the Narmada river. A government project to raise the height of the massive Sardar Sarovar Dam threatens to submerge 60 villages along the river.

Arundhati Roy is showered with petals. She has called for alternative ways of achieving the government's goals, such as rain water storage, building irrigation canals and finding other power-generating sources.

Critics says the building of the dam will displace about 250,000 people, many of them tribal groups.

Villagers in Domkhedi - one of the tribal villages that will be submerged by rising waters in the coming monsoon season.

Arundhati Roy jumps from boat to boat during the "Rally for the Valley" march to the Narmada Dam.

Relevant Stories

Narmada: A history of controversy (29 Jul 99 | South Asia)
Narmada: The threat to local villages (29 Jul 99 | South Asia)
Top novelist funds anti-dam campaign (26 Jun 99 | South Asia)
Sardar Sarovar dam: At what price progress? (23 Mar 98 | Water Week)

Internet Links

Arundhati Roy writes about the Narmada valley
Environmental Defence Fund on the Sardar Sarovar Dam
Gujarat Chief Minister
International Rivers Network
Friends of the Narmada River

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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