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dam-l TAKE ACTION ON MAY 23! STOP MAHESHWAR DAM!
**Please distribute!**
ACTION ALERT!
STOP NY-BASED OGDEN CORP. FROM BUILDING DAMS ON INDIA'S NARMADA RIVER!
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk
BARRAGE OGDEN DAY #2
TUESDAY, MAY 23
Thank you for participating in last month's Barrage Ogden Day to stop the
Maheshwar Dam! Because of your actions, we generated about 1500 faxes,
calls and emails to Ogden! But, we still need your help. We urge you to
join us in Barrage Ogden Day #2 and CALL, FAX OR EMAIL OGDEN ON MAY 23. We
need to let Ogden know that we won't be satisfied until the company has
withdrawn from the destructive Maheshwar Dam.
Below is a sample letter, background on the dam and some rebuttals you can
use to counter Ogden's claims.
On March 23, NY-based Ogden Corporation signed a Memorandum of Intent to
take a 49% equity share in the controversial Maheshwar Dam on India's
Narmada River. The project would be a social and economic disaster. Around
40,000 people would lose their lands or livelihoods because of the project.
Independent surveys have shown that there is no available land to give to
people whose lands will be flooded. Due to the project's poor economics and
massive opposition, including countless demonstrations and rallies, two
German utilities and one American company withdrew from the project during
the last two years.
We urge you to CONTACT OGDEN ON MAY 23 and tell them to withdraw from the
Maheshwar Dam. If we act together, we can stop this social and economic
disaster.
Thanks for your support!
Susanne Wong
-------------------------- --------------------------
CALL! FAX! EMAIL!
TELL OGDEN OFFICIALS TO GET OUT OF THE MAHESHWAR DAM!
TUESDAY, MAY 23
Scott Mackin
President and CEO
Ogden Corp.
Tel: 212-868-6000
Fax: 212-868-5714
Email: scott_mackin@ogden.com
Kent Burton
VP, Policy and Communications
Ogden Corp.
Tel: 703-246-0833
Fax: 703-246-0808
Email: kent_burton@ogden-energy.com
--------------------------
SAMPLE LETTER
--------------------------
Dear Mr. Burton or Mr. Mackin,
I am writing to urge you to withdraw from the Maheshwar Dam in India. This
project is a social and economic disaster and will destroy the lands and
livelihoods of 40,000 people living in the Narmada Valley.
Despite assertions by your company, no land is available to give to people
whose lands will be flooded. A 1998 report by India's premier social
research institute, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, found that
government lands claimed to be available for resettlement were either
eroded and stony, already used by other poverty-stricken communities, or
located in the submergence zone of the reservoir. The report also found
that claims of private lands identified for resettlement were fictitious.
Investment in the Maheshwar Dam poses serious political and financial
risks. The Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board, which is supposed to purchase
power from the project, is bankrupt and is likely to default on its
payments. The affected people, led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan, are
determined that they will never let the project be built. The project's
poor economics and massive opposition, including countless demonstrations
and rallies, forced two German utilities and one American company to
withdraw during the last two years.
I urge you to respect the demands of the people affected by the Maheshwar
Dam and withdraw from this destructive and uneconomic project.
Sincerely,
--------------------------
BACKGROUND
--------------------------
The Maheshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh state in central India would affect
around 40,000 farmers, wage laborers, fishers and crafts people in 61
villages and submerge about 1,100 hectares of rich agricultural land. Many
of these people would lose part or all of their lands, others such as those
who quarry river bed gravel, do not own land but would lose the source of
their livelihood.
The affected people, led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan which has campaigned
for more than a decade to stop dams on the Narmada River, are determined
that they will never let the project be built. Over the last two years,
thousands of farmers whose lives and livelihoods will be destroyed by the
Maheshwar Dam have occupied the dam site ten times, barricaded all roads
leading to the dam for three months, and held mass demonstrations and
hunger strikes opposing the dam.
Electricity generated by the dam is projected to cost four to five times
more than current electricity produced by Madhya Pradesh state. The Madhya
Pradesh Electricity Board, which is supposed to purchase power from the
project, is on the verge of bankruptcy and is likely to default on its
payments. Due to the project's serious financial risks and intense
opposition from local people and Indian and international environmental and
human rights groups, U.S. power utility PacifiCorp backed out of the
project in 1998, and German utilities Bayernwerk and VEW Energie pulled out
in April 1999.
-------------------------------------------
OGDEN'S CLAIMS AND SOME REBUTTALS
-------------------------------------------
Ogden's Claim: Families affected by the dam will be compensated for their
homes and land. Land is available for resettlement.
RESPONSE: A 1998 report by India's premier social research institute, the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, found that government lands claimed to
be available for resettlement were either eroded and stony and already used
by other poverty-stricken communities, or located in the submergence zone
of the reservoir. The report also found that claims of private lands
identified for resettlement were fictitious.
The legal framework governing resettlement in MP clearly stipulates that
land lost to submergence must be compensated by grants of new lands. As of
today, project authorities have not made a single person an offer of
cultivable land. Instead, project authorities have tried to intimidate
people to accept cash compensation by not offering them any land and
committing various illegal acts like dumping stone on people's land and
seizing lands arbitrarily.
Ogden's Claim: The new resettlement villages will have new roads, schools,
medical, sanitation and drinking water facilities and households will have
electrical connections.
RESPONSE: No new villages have been built with the amenities claimed by
Ogden. Many villagers have refused to move to two of the resettlement
villages, Samraj and Jalud, because of the barren lands and small house
plots there. Meanwhile, construction of the dam will destroy the rich
economy in the valley and flood existing agricultural fields, schools,
roads and other infrastructure. The German NGO Urgewald states in their
report on Maheshwar (1999) that "if compensation at replacement value [of
homes, lands, existing infrastructure and sources of livelihood] would be
undertaken, the project would very likely not be economically viable."
Ogden's Claim: Local people support the Maheshwar Dam and are encouraging
us to finish as soon as possible.
RESPONSE: The affected people state that they are "prepared to wage a
relentless struggle" against the Maheshwar Dam and are determined to "not
let the dam be built at any cost." The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA - Save
the Narmada Movement) has been leading the fight against dam construction
on the Narmada River for more than a decade and represents tens of
thousands of local people. This spring, nearly 300 elected representatives
of the affected area sent Ogden a resolution opposing the project.
Over the last two years, thousands of people affected by the dam have
occupied the construction site ten times and held mass demonstrations and
hunger strikes opposing the project. In spring 1998, protesters barricaded
roads leading to the damsite for 3 months and blocked the flow of
construction material to the site.
On February 24, 2000, villagers launched an indefinite protest in front of
the damsite demanding authorities to demonstrate the utility of the project
and available lands for resettlement. On March 8, police beat and arrested
the protesters. On April 4, 200 project affected people demonstrated
outside the US Embassy in Delhi opposing Ogden's involvement in the
Maheshwar Dam.
Ogden's Claim: The number of people who would be displaced by the dam has
been overestimated.
RESPONSE: Recent surveys by the NBA suggest that about 35-40,000 people
will be affected by the project (this figure also includes landless people
who will lose their livelihoods). Independent reviews show that the
official figures, which range from 2,264 to 4,000 families, are gross
underestimates and based on outdated and incomplete data. The official
figures also exclude thousands of people who would lose their livelihoods
to the project (including landless labourers, fisherpeople, and those
dependent on riverbed gravel quarrying).
Ogden's Claim: The 400 megawatts generated at Maheshwar will supply the
state with peaking power to meet demand that cannot be handled by existing
facilities.
RESPONSE: The project is expected to generate far less power than expected.
While the project is designed to produce peaking power, nearly 80% of the
project's energy generation will occur in the four monsoon months, when
there is an existing surplus of power. According to project data, the
average firm power expected to be generated by Maheshwar is 92 MW initially
and 49 MW finally. Generation at Maheshwar is supposed to rely on water
released from a massive storage reservoir upstream (the Narmada Sagar
Project). This project is long delayed and unlikely to ever be completed,
and this will thus reduce the amount of power expected to be produced at
Maheshwar.
Independent energy analysts who participated in a Task Force on the
Maheshwar project sponsored by the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government estimate
that its power will cost around four times the cost of power currently
produced in MP and will be among the most expensive in the country. Project
authorities have denied these allegations but refused to provide their own
detailed estimates of power costs.
There are cheaper and more effective alternatives. The Task Force also
recommended that work on the Maheshwar dam be halted and a fresh analysis
of costs and benefits undertaken to establish the viability of the project.
It suggested various alternatives including demand-management measures,
biomass generation, optimum use of oil-based plants and existing dams, and
micro-hydro plants. In March 1999, the Central Power Minister, Mr.
Kumaramangalam, made an offer of significantly cheaper power to the state
of Madhya Pradesh from the Cepa project in Orissa.
Ogden's Claim: This project will provide people with an important new
source of clean energy.
RESPONSE: The energy from Maheshwar Dam will not be "clean." Dams block
fish migration and alter the natural pattern of floods and sediment flows.
Because dams trap a river's flow, dams foul river water in numerous ways,
affecting its chemistry, temperature, and turbidity (sediment load). These
hydrological, chemical and physical changes have serious impacts on
riverine and floodplain flora and fauna which are adapted to the natural
characteristics of the river. The specific environmental impacts of the
Maheshwar project are not known because no comprehensive environmental
assessment exists. This is a violation of both Indian and international
standards for dam projects.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Go to www.narmada.org or www.irn.org
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
tel: 510-848-1155 fax: 510-848-1008 email: swong@irn.org