Mangaluru: Medha Patkar, activist who was speaking to the media after inaugurating the boat rally organised by the National Fishworkers’ Forum, said “You cannot just divert a river like drawing a line on a map. It has its own impact,” She was referring to the Netravathi project.

 “Local people don’t  mind water sharing. But if you divert the river and the downstream is left dry and dead , what do you achieve? You are diverting water from farmers to industries in the name of drinking water and irrigation,” she reasoned. Unless there was complete impact assessment and public consultation, decisions taken would not be rational, but only political. she said. Medha Patkar was apprehensive about its likely impact on the ecology and the people.

When asked if she would join the fight against diversion of the Netravathi, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader said she would have to first study the issue.
 
Ms Patkar, who had contested as an AAP candidate from Mumbai North East Lok Sabha constituency in the recent election, said she was finding it too Delhi-centric for her liking now. “I think the party would do better if in between elections it concentrated more on peoples issue, movements and struggles,” she told reporters.