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dam-l E-Link: Police Take Over Maheshwar Dam (fwd)
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From owner-irn-narmada@igc.org Wed Apr 1 01:35:21 1998
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Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 20:38:50 -0800
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Subject: E-Link: Police Take Over Maheshwar Dam
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POLICE TAKE OVER MAHESHWAR DAM
MAHESHWAR DAM, India, March 31, 1998 (ENS) - On Saturday, a thousand police
took over the site of the
Maheshwar Dam on the Narmada River in the central Indian state of Madhya
Pradesh.
Citizen demonstrations in January by more than 25,000 people had forced a
halt to the dam construction and a review of the project. Activists believe
the police occupation may be an attempt to start work on the project
without their approval. The police have blocked all the routes to the dam
site, effectively sealing it off.
The review process had been moving along, with the last meeting of the Task
Force held on February 28. The government made documents available to the
citizens and promised to provide a document stating why the project is
necessary, the least cost, and why it should be built. A meeting of the
Task Force was set for April 15-16.
The project, the first privatised hydroelectric power project in India, is
being built by S. Kumars company, which is seeking collaboration with
multinational companies like Pac-Gen, Siemens and Asea Brown Boveri (ABB).
The Save the Narmada Movement objects to the project because the reservoir
created by this dam would submerge fertile tracts of cotton, chili, wheat
and well-settled 61 villages with a population of about 100,000.
S. Kumars has been running full page ads in local newspapers stating the
"massive benefits" of the project and "minimal displacement," ads that the
citizen demonstrators objected to.
On March 4 an urgent meeting was called by the chair of the Task Force
investigating the citizen complaints to discuss the possibility of allowing
some construction at the dam for "safety purposes." S. Kumars asked to
construct a 240 meter (780 foot) high protective wall to prevent damage and
ensure the safety of the work done so far. The Save the Narmada Movement
objected.
Shripad Dharmadhikary of the Save the Narmada Movement says the stoppage of
work, the project review and the large amount of international attention to
the project seems to have scared off investors. Before the citizen
occupation S. Kumars said that they had all but ten percent of the needed
funding for the dam. But now, because of the occupation, sources of funding
seem to have evaporated.
"So," says Dharmadhikary, "S. Kumars wants to show that the review is
nothing but a political concession made just before the elections. This
they can do only if the work starts."
On March 11, the state government of Madhya Pradesh through its Narmada
Valley Development Authority (NVDA) issued a notification that "any work
for the purposes of safety and resettlement" except work on powerhouse, dam
and land acquisition would be permitted.
On March 16, the company brought in a number of pumps to the site and
started pumping out water of the excavation pits. The enraged village
people sent a letter to the Chief Minister March 19 calling on him to stop
the work. Having no response, on March 23, over 500 people marched to the
dam site and told the company people to vacate in three days.
On March 25, the Chief Minister called Save the Narmada Movement activists
Alok Agarwaal and Chittaroopa Palit to meet him urgently. He requested them
again and again to allow construction - but when it was pointed out to him
that the wall is a permanent structure and would require blasting, he
agreed to look into it and give his response on March 30.
On March 26, over 800 people from the Maheshwar area gathered in Bhopal,
the state capital, for a one day demonstration, and a delegation again met
the Chief Minister.
The people had earlier announced a big rally at the dam site for April 3.
The event was planned even before the most recent turn of events, but it
has now assumed a larger significance.
On Saturday more than a thousand police appeared and sealed off the dam
site. They are claiming that this is a precautionary measure in case the
citizens take some action on April 3.
The demonstrators believe the police presence is a cover under which the
company can again start construction. Save the Narmada Movement has told
the police that they need not fear for anything on April 3. "We will do
whatever we want openly, by announcing it well in advance - just as we had
announced the occupation 10 days in advance," said Dharmadhikary.
The demonstrators are now waiting for word from the Chief Minister and
planning for the rally. The people are surging with enthusiasm and anger
and are determined not to let the work start on the dam.
Over 180 painters from all over the country, including many of the leading
ones, have contributed their paintings for the Save the Narmada Movement.
An exhibition of these paintings opened on March 26 in Bombay under the
name of "Artists for a Sustainable World."
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