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dam-l LS: PR: State Govt Unable to Defend Maheshwar Dam
Narmada Bachao Andolan
Camp : Delhi
Press Release January 14, 2000
State Government Unable to Defend Maheshwar Hydel Power Project
Government has no Answers to the Questions of Affected People : The
People will Stop the Project
The reply given by the M.P. State Government to the questions raised
by the NBA with regards the Maheshwar Hydel Power Project is not only
laughable but clearly shows that the Government is unable to defend
the project. The over 1000 oustees of the project who have since last
four days refused to leave the Maheshwar jail premises today took out
a rally in the Maheshwar town and announced that the they will not
let the project - which will surely destroy the economy of the Nimad
area and the state - come up, and they will once again go and occupy
the dam site.
It may be recollected that since four days these oustees are refusing
to leave the Maheswar jail where they had been taken after being
arrested from the occupation of the dam site on 11th Jan. '00. They
have taken a stand that they will not leave till the Government
answers all the questions they have raised. The questions raised by
the people were the most basic questions about the project which it
is the duty of the state Government to make public. These questions
include :
1. What will be the capital and other cost of the Maheshwar
Hydel Power Project
2. How much power, month wise will it actually generate
3. What will be the cost of this power
4. What will be the annual payments that will have to be made to
the project owners S.Kumars as per the PPA signed by the state with
them
5. How much agricultural land has been given to the oustees so far
6. How much land is available for the resettlement of the oustees
7. Why have the recommendations of the Task Force set up by the
State Government itself not been implemented
8. Why is the work on the dam being allowed to proceed even
though the Central Ministry of Environment and Forests has declared
in its report that there is no land to resettle the oustees?
The Khargone M.P. Shri Tarachand Patel and the Badwah MLA Shri
Jagdish Moranya had clearly conveyed these questions to the Chief
Minister and the Indore Commissioner by personally meeting them. The
district Collector has written a "reply" to these yesterday which
does not address these questions, but rather, evades the key issues.
The letter written by Shri Bhupal Singh, Collector, Khargone, says
that the cost per unit of the power generated will not be Rs. 10. (As
NBA analysis shows). From this it can be inferred that it could even
be more. But what the actual cost (rate) will be has been suppressed.
It is written in the letter that agricultural land will be given to
the oustees "as far as possible". This is a mockery of the
resettlement policy which states explicitly that land will be given
in lieu of land. The use of the words "as far as possible" indicates
clearly that the Government and project authorities are preparing to
evict the oustees without full resettlement. There is no reply as to
how much area will become waterlogged. Similarly, the Collector has
stated in the letter that the state will not have to make annual
payments of Rs. 600 crores to S.Kumars - but has omitted to mention
how much the payments will be. There is no clear answer about the
amount of generation of power also. From all this, it is clear that
the state Government wants to keep the people of the state in the
dark, and is deliberately avoiding giving answers to the questions.
From the letter of the Collector, it has become clear that the
Government has failed miserably in establishing the "public purpose"
or "public interest" of the Mahehswar project but rather, has avoided
the key issues. From this, it can be seen that that the project is
being pushed forward only to benefit the vested interests including
the national and international capitalists. And that the state and
the country will have to pay a heavy price for this.
After this dismal reply from the State Government the people
occupying the Maheshwar jail since last four days took out a rally in
Mahehswar town and announced that they will now go to the people of
the state and the country with this issue and the reply of the
Government. They also announced that they could go and occupy the dam
any day, any time to stop the work on the dam, and with the
supporters from all over the state and the country continue the
indefinite struggle to stop this destructive project. While the
Government and project authorities are trying to downplay the
struggle by trying to spread blatant lies about the number of people
who occupied the dam site being only 400, the people have reasserted
that their strength and determination cannot be suppressed by false
reports but will be seen in the coming days by all.
The NBA expresses surprise and concern that the State Government and
S.Kumars have failed in establishing the public interest that would
be supposedly be served by the project which is being built in the
name of public interest. NBA's analysis already shows that the power
from the project would cost Rs. 8-10 per unit. According to the
skewed PPA signed with S.Kumars, the state will have to make annual
payments of about Rs. 600 crores. From this, it is clear that the
project is being pushed only to benefit certain vested interests. The
NBA calls for the project to be immediately stopped in the larger
interest of Nimad, the state and the country.
Sd/-
Alok Agarwaal, NBA
Maheshwar, M.P.
Written in Delhi From the Communication Received From the Field By:
Shripad Dharmadhikary, NBA
Delhi Contact : c/o 642 6783 / 623 7724