India arrests top environmentalist in dam dispute

NEW DELHI - Indian police arrested leading environmentalist Medha Patkar eight days into her hunger strike to demand the rehabilitation of thousands of villagers displaced by a dam, television stations have reported.

Patkar, 52, who drew nationwide attention by keeping up her protest despite failing health, was arrested round midnight on Wednesday near the national parliament in New Delhi and taken to a hospital, said the television stations.

Environmental activists had surrounded Patkar to support her.

Police broke through the cordon of activists, Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy, told the NDTV channel. "Some were taken away and some released," he said.

Police declined to comment and no further details were immediately available.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government said it would ensure proper rehabilitation for the villagers and appealed to Patkar to give up her protest.

Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said Singh had asked three federal ministers to travel to the site of the Sardar Sarovar hydroelectric dam to supervise rehabilitation efforts.

Authorities began work last month to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar, the biggest dam in the multi-billion dollar Narmada Valley development project in western India.

But they came under pressure from Patkar, who has led a 20-year campaign to protect villagers whose homes and fields have been submerged or will now be threatened by rising waters.

Soz said in a statement the government would take steps to satisfy Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan environmental group, or Save Narmada Movement.

- REUTERS