Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday defended his decision to intervene in the issue of the Maheshwar dam project in Madhya Pradesh, on whose work the Environment Ministry, headed by Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, revoked the ban on Friday.
The ban on work at the site was ordered by the Ministry in April 2010, with the resettlement and rehabilitation of affected villages largely pending.
“Yes. I did intervene to get the project completed to generate power and provide water to the city of Indore. Relief and rehabilitation is the responsibility of the State government and they have committed to complete these on time,” Mr. Singh said.
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The decision came on a day when Mr. Ramesh candidly said he had been forced to regularise illegality many times.