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dam-l (Fwd) URGENT! ENDORSEMENTS SOUGHT - NGO RESOLUTION ON MAHESHWA
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 14:03:24 -0800
From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully)
Subject: URGENT! ENDORSEMENTS SOUGHT - NGO RESOLUTION ON MAHESHWAR
To: irn-narmada@igc.apc.org, irn-wcd@igc.org, irn-action@igc.org
URGENT ! URGENT !URGENT !
!! PLEASE SUPPORT THE BHOPAL HUNGER STRIKERS !!
PLEASE ENDORSE THE
FOLLOWING RESOLUTION!!
Seven people - five of them community leaders from the villages to
be
flooded by Maheshwar Dam - have been on hunger strike in
Bhopal, state
capital of Madhya Pradesh, since April 12. The hunger strikers are
demanding a halt to construction on Maheshwar and other
destructive dams
being built on the Narmada basin in Madhya Pradesh.
The following resolution on the Maheshwar Dam was written by
Heffa
Schücking of German NGO Urgewald in cooperation with the
Narmada Bachao
Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) and International Rivers
Network.
Heffa recently visited the Maheshwar area. Her trip report is posted at
http://www.irn.org/programs/narmada/urg990421.html.
If you are able to endorse the declaration please send your name and
affiliation to Susanne Wong at International Rivers Network
(swong@irn.org). We hope to send the resolution and a first list of
endorsements to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on Monday April 26.
We will continue to collect endorsements to the resolution after this
date. Please do all you can do collect endorsements among your own
networks.
Thank you for your time and apologies for cross-postings.
Patrick McCully
International Rivers Network
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RESOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ON THE
MAHESHWAR DAM IN MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA
The undersigned human-rights, environment, church and development
organizations appeal to the Government of the State of Madhya Pradesh in
India to accept the demands of the Narmada Bachao Andolan hunger strikers
in Bhopal and halt construction of the Maheshwar Dam.
The Maheshwar Dam would displace more than 20,000 farmers, wage labourers,
fishers and craftspeople and submerge some of the richest agricultural
lands in Madhya Pradesh. Independent investigations both by the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences and the German NGO Urgewald have found that
resettlement planning for this project is a shambles and that in effect no
land is available to provide land-for-land resettlement in accordance with
the Narmada Tribunal Award and the State Resettlement Policy for the
Narmada Projects. The Task Force, which the Government of Madhya Pradesh
created to examine the project, also came to the conclusion that "adequate
land area has not been identified to enable allotment to all affected
families".
The cost-benefit analysis of the project was based on a systematic
undervaluation of the prosperous local economy and the rich resources it
depends upon. To carry on with the project would mean consciously driving
more than 20,000 people into destitution and impoverishment. Sacrificing
the lands and livelihoods of 61 villages cannot be reconcilied with the
goal of achieving prosperity for the people of Madhya Pradesh.
The people of the Nimad region have risen up against this project and are
waging a determined struggle for their families, their communities, their
traditions and the protection of the river against the destruction that
this project would entail. We declare our solidarity with this struggle
and are determined to stop companies from our countries from participating
in this project. Major successes in this regard have been the withdrawal
of a US and two German utilities from the Maheshwar project.
In view of the ongoing hunger strike and dharna (protest) in Bhopal, we
urgently call upon the Government of Madhya Pradesh to implement the
recommendations of its own Task Force on the Narmada Valley projects.
These recommendations include a halt to construction on Maheshwar pending
the completion of comprehensive and participatory review of the costs and
benefits of the project and of the viablity of alternative forms of water
and energy development.
We ask you to take action quickly, as the health and the lives of
community activists are in the balance.
Endorsed by:
Dianne Murray, Coordinator/Webmistress
Dam-Reservoir Working Group; Ottawa, Canada
Dam-Reservoir Impacts and Information Archive
http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/dams