It was a show of strength by tribals in south Gujarat on Friday as they took out a rally in Vaghai taluka of Dang district in protest against the Centre’s Tapi-Par-Narmada river-linking project fearing displacement from their homes and farmlands.
The public meeting of tribals was organised at Birsa Munda ground in Vaghai taluka of Dang district by tribal organisations such as the Adivasi Samanvay Manch, Adivasi Ekta Parishad and Samast Adivasi Samaj, among others.
The movement is backed by Anant Patel, Congress MLA from Vansda seat in Navsari district, and one of the five tribal kings of Dang, Dhansrajsinh Suryavanshi of the erstwhile Vasurna state in Dang.
Anant Patel said, “We got to know that the state BJP called a meeting and told their leaders that the project would not happen. We (the tribal people) are confused as Union Finance Minister announces the project and here the state BJP government announces that the project will not take place. We want the government to come up with a white paper stating that this project would not take place.”
Claiming that thousands of tribal families staying in Dharampur and Kaprada in Valsad district as well as Vaghai in Dang district will lose their lands and homes to the project, Patel said, “We Adivasis should stand together and fight. If we are not united they will take advantage and implement the project.”
This is the third such protest meet held in south Gujarat after the first on February 28 in Dharampur of Valsad district and the second one on March 5 in Vyara of Tapi district.
Par Tapi Narmada Link proposes to transfer water from the water-surplus regions of Western Ghats to the water-deficit regions of Saurashtra and Kutch through the Sardar Sarovar Project. The water is proposed to be taken from seven reservoirs through a 395-kilometre canal.