Khandwa, Sep 8: Farmers here are on a Jal Satyagraha for the last 15 days and the 90 protesting farmers are not ready to call off what they call as their 'final struggle.'
One of the farmers, 60-year-old Girjabai shivers as she stands neck-deep in water. The old woman from Kamankheda village in the district, gasps for breath as she voices the angst of her fellow protesters. "The government better shoot us than giving us this watery grave," she says.
Farmers from Ghogal Aawan, Bilawa, Bada Kailawa, Sukaya, Kamankheda and other villages are protesting the state government's move to increase water-level in dams in the region that is resulting in gradual submergence of their farm land.
They claim that over 1,000 acres of land is already submerged and 60 villages are on the verge of submergence if water-level in Omkareshwar dam is increased further.
Another protester in her sixties, Leelabai accused the government of raising the water-level despite knowing that they are standing neck-deep protesting in water.
She said, "I have three children and all of them are illiterate and depend on farming. Where will they go if our land is grabbed?"
Meanwhile, Khandwa district collector Neeraj Dubey visited the protesters and promised to look into the issue.
