AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused “urban Naxals and anti-development elements with political backing” of stalling various development projects in Gujarat. He said that such groups had opposed the Sardar Sarovar dam by orchestrating a campaign against it.
“Huge money was wasted because of the delay in executing the project. Now, when the dam is complete, you can judge how dubious their claims were,” said Modi. He added that these groups took crores of rupees from global organisations to hinder development in India.
Modi was addressing environment ministers of various states after virtually inaugurating a national conference in Gujarat’s Narmada district via video conference. Pointing out “conspiracies” due to which the World Bank had refused loan to increase the dam height, he said, “It took some time to thwart these conspiracies, but the people came out victorious. The dam was described as a threat to the environment. Today, it has become synonymous with environmental protection,” he said.
The PM also asked people to stay alert against the extreme left-leaning urban Naxals. “I urge you to ensure that projects aimed at bringing ease of doing business or ease of living do not get unnecessarily stalled in the name of the environment. We must have a balanced approach to counter the conspiracy of such people,” he said.
Earlier, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had targeted Medha Patkar, the founder member of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, for showing “farcical environmental concerns” to obstruct development projects.
Shah on Sept 4 while inaugurating a function in Ahmedabad had said, “Some people have made fresh attempts to give Patkar a backdoor entry into politics. I’d like to ask the youth if they would allow those who opposed the development of Gujarat to enter the state.”