Thousands of Indians joined author Arundhati Roy and other activists Sunday in the central Indian village of Pathrad to protest dam projects that they say would uproot local people. The Maheshwar Hydel Project, a dam under construction by a private company, would submerge 61 villages, including Pathrad. Another construction plan, the Narmada Valley Development project, involves more than 3,200 dams along an 812-mile river and would generate electricity and provide irrigation and drinking water, as well as submerge 93,000 acres of land and affect more than 45,000 families. Roy’s recent attacks on big dams have brought the issue into the public eye and given a boost to anti-dam campaigns.
