Madhya Pradesh: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat today, miles away in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, thousands carried out a ‘Jal Satyagrah’ – a protest where they stand barefoot in water. The protesters, led by Narmada Bachao Aandolan founder Medha Patkar, say that the water from the dam is likely to affect 40,000 families who might have to leave their homes that will be submerged as the level of the water rises steadily.

The “Jal Satyagaraha” protest began on Friday on the banks of the Narmada River at Chota Barda village in Dhar, about 300 km from Bhopal, where the water level is increasing gradually.

Ms Patkar has demanded that the families be rehabilitated or paid compensation. This, she says, has not happened despite an order by Supreme Court. Describing the development as “unfortunate”, she has demanded that water supply in the dam be stopped till the rehabilitation was completed.

Narmada Bachao Andolan took the government to the Supreme Court over environmental and rehabilitation issues, and obtained a stay in 1996. The court allowed resumption of work in October 2000.

As per the government, 18,386 families would be affected in the state. After inaugurating the dam today the Prime Minister said, “A massive misinformation campaign was launched against the dam project, which is an engineering miracle.” The dam, he said, sets new records and new benchmarks.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam, on the Narmada River, is the world’s second largest dam after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States and is the third highest concrete dam in India.

Activists have been long demanding that the filling of the reservoir with water be stopped immediately and the dam’s gates remain open so as to reduce the water level.

The project has been ensnared in controversies ever since its foundation stone was laid in 1961 by the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Inputs from NDTV