Medha Patkar critical on Day 8 of fast
Posted Wednesday, April 05, 2006 at 13:51 
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New Delhi: Eighth day into her indefinite fast, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar's health deteriorated on Wednesday and doctors have warned that the next 48 hours would be very critical for her.
Patkar is having only water and was vomitting since Wednesday morning.
Left weak by seven days of fasting, Patkar has difficulty in speaking and NBA activists standing with her at the Jantar Mantar expressed concern over her deteriorating condition.
Unrelenting in her demand that work on the Sardar Sarovar Dam should be halted immediately, Patkar has turned down repeated requests to break her fast from many quarters, including the Prime Minister himself, over the past seven days.
The NBA activists were on an indefinite fast for eighth day in the national capital, demanding stoppage of work on increasing the height of the dam to 121.92 metres from the current 113 metres till the project affected people are rehabilitated.
Patkar had a stream of visitors from the civil society, including noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande and academician Prof Yashpal, expressing solidarity with the protest.
NBA activists were taking their turn in joining Patkar's in her fast as three of them -- Dheeraj Kumar, Avdesh and Nakhreen Behn -- started their protest.
On Tuesday, Patkar turned down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's request to end her indefinite hunger strike, saying that her agitation would continue till the government makes public its report on the rehabilitation of the families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project.
Deputed by the Prime Minister, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, who met Patkar twice on Tuesday conveyed Singh's request to call off her seven-day-long strike.
Patkar has said there was a need for a national campaign to bring the focus on the plight of the people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
"In the name of infrastructure development, you cannot snatch away from the people their homes and their livelihood," she said making a brief statement.
She said while the government was working on an urban renewal mission for cities like Mumbai and Delhi, people in the villages were being removed from their homes in the name of development.
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