New Delhi, April 5
The Delhi Police tonight shifted Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, who is on an indefinite hunger strike on a street here, to a hospital after her condition turned critical.
“We have taken Ms Patkar to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital”, Additional DCP (New Delhi) Manish Agarwal said.
He said she was taken to the hospital after doctors informed the police that her condition was critical and she had been refusing to undergo any medical tests.
There has been no arrest or detention of Ms Patkar or any NBA activist, he added.
Ms Patkar has been on fast for the past eight days in protest against the government’s move to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar Dam and demanding rehabilitation of the people displaced by the project.
Earlier, the government today made a fresh appeal to Ms Patkar to call off her indefinite fast and decided to send a three-member minister team to the dam site in Madhya Pradesh to ensure rehabilitation of displaced persons.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Defence Minister Pranab Mukerhjee said the Union Cabinet discussed the fast being
undertaken by Ms Patkar, which entered the eighth day today, and expressed concern over her health condition.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The
ministerial team comprising Mr Saifuddin Soz, Ms Mehta Kumar and Mr Prithviraj Chavan would visit the site tomorrow to see the progress of the
rehabilitation programme of the displaced persons.
The government would fully implement the Supreme Court directives on the
rehabilitation scheme, Mr Mukherjee said adding that keeping that in view, she had been requested to call of her strike.
The Cabinet also gave its approval for withdrawal of the Arbitration and Concilliation (Amendment) Bill, 2003, which had been pending in the Rajya Sabha, and approved the implementation of the Supreme Court orders for disbursement of additional compensation to Bhopal gas victims.
