Big Dams Uprooting Residents, Destroying River Ecosystems In India: Experts

NEW DELHI, 26 Sept (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Sep, 2021 ) :- Ecologists in India feel the thrust for huge river valley projects and multipurpose dams is jeopardizing the country's already imperiled rivers and uprooting indigenous people.

Under the current regime, various laws are being violated and amended to ease projects which are unconstitutional and inhuman and they assault the riverine population without ensuring that they get their life with primacy, said India's leading environmental activist.

"That's why displacement is taking place. This is an indirect displacement when their sources of livelihood are getting affected," Medha Patkar, who is the founder of Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada River) told Anadolu Agency to mark World Rivers Day.

World Rivers Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in September every year to increase public awareness about rivers and to encourage conservation.

- Farmers losing means of livelihood Patkar, who founded the NGO in 1985, has advocated for causes of farmers, tribes and women. "The forest dwellers are getting affected, the boatmen are getting affected, the fishermen are getting affected and the farmers who have been using river water all through are losing their means of livelihood," she said.

Narmada Bachao Andolan is a movement spanning more than three-and-a-half decades, against dam projects on the Narmada River in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Thousands of people have been displaced because of the construction of big and small dams.

Patkar not only is opposed to the construction of dams but fought for displaced people who were not compensated or properly rehabilitated despite apex court decisions. During her fight, she has been arrested several times and observed fasts in support of her demands.