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DAM-L URGENT! Sign-on Letter to World Bank on Sardar Sarovar (fwd)
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Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 16:37:50 -0800 (PST)
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subject: URGENT! Sign-on Letter to World Bank on Sardar Sarovar
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URGENT! URGENT! URGENT!
***please circulate***
DEMAND WORLD BANK ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SARDAR SAROVAR PROJECT
Endorsements Needed by Friday - December 1, 2000!
We urge you to endorse the letter below demanding that the World Bank
assume responsibility for its role in the destructive Sardar Sarovar
Project in India. This project will displace at least 320,000 people and
destroy the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more. On October
18, the Indian Supreme Court authorized renewed construction on the project
despite the fact that there is no land available for resettlement and no
resettlement plans or comprehensive environmental impact assessments have
been completed.
Although the World Bank withdrew from the project in 1993, the Bank is
still legally obligated to make sure the Indian government complies with
the conditions of the original loan agreements. These conditions require
that a proper resettlement plan and environmental impact assessment are
carried out. The Bank approved the project in 1985 despite glaring
violations of its own guidelines and dispersed $280 million before
cancelling its loan.
Please send your endorsement **BY FRIDAY, DEC. 1** to swong@irn.org. We
encourage you to circulate this letter to your friends and colleagues for
their endorsement.
Best wishes,
Susanne Wong
International Rivers Network
LETTER CALLING ON WORLD BANK TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SARDAR SAROVAR
PROJECT
November 20, 2000
Mr. James Wolfensohn
President
The World Bank
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
Subject: World Bank's Responsibility for Sardar Sarovar Project
Dear Mr. Wolfensohn,
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to point out the continuing
plight of people affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) and to call
on the Bank to assume its responsibility to the people of the Narmada
valley. The World Bank has failed to ensure that the Indian government has
met its obligations under its loan agreement for SSP. Therefore, we demand
that the Bank suspend all further disbursements and approvals for new loans
for the Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments until the
Bank has ensured that the conditions of the loan have been met. As a first
step, we urge the Bank to initiate consultations with the Narmada Bachao
Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement), as promised in your meeting with
people from the Narmada Valley in Delhi on November 13.
As you are aware, the Indian Supreme Court recently authorized continued
construction of SSP despite major unresolved issues on resettlement, the
environment and the project's costs and benefits.
The Government of India is still legally obligated to meet the terms and
conditions in its loan and credit agreements with the Bank on SSP despite
the Bank's withdrawal from the project in 1993 (refer to Memo from Ibrahim
F.I. Shihata to D.J. Wood, March 30, 1993). These obligations were
reiterated in India Country Director Edwin R. Lim's November 19, 1999
letter to Both Ends and International Rivers Network where he stated that
"the Bank has in the past and will continue to urge the Government of India
to meet its obligations regarding the people affected by the Sardar Sarovar
Project."
The problems that plagued the project before the cancellation of the Bank's
loan remain unresolved. The Bank approved its $450 million loan for the
project in 1985 despite glaring violations of its own guidelines concerning
resettlement and the environment. According to the Bank-sponsored Morse
Report, "In 1985, when the credit and loan agreement were signed, no basis
for designing, implementing, and assessing resettlement and rehabilitation
was in place." The Bank approved the loan without knowing how many people
would be displaced or consulting affected people. Even to this day, no
credible resettlement plan exists and no survey has been completed for
villages affected by the reservoir's backwaters.
To make matters worse, government officials, including the Chief Minister
of Madhya Pradesh, have stated that there is no land available for
resettlement in Madhya Pradesh or Maharashtra. Villages that have been
resettled have been scattered among different resettlement sites in blatant
violation of the 1979 Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award and the Bank's
loan and credit agreements.
The rights of people affected by the project for reasons other than
submergence continue to be violated and ignored by project authorities.
People who will lose land or livelihood due to the project's irrigation
canal, compensatory afforestation, wildlife sanctuary, construction colony
and other dam-related infrastructure are not currently entitled to
rehabilitation. People affected by the construction colony have yet to be
resettled even though the need to resettle them was recognized in the
Bank's 1985 Staff Appraisal Report. Canal-affected people have not received
proper compensation packages as stipulated in Bank conditions issued after
the Morse report was published.
Furthermore, no environmental impact assessment has ever been produced for
SSP. The Bank approved its credit and loan for SSP despite the lack of a
comprehensive environmental assessment and the fact that the environmental
clearance required under Indian law had not been granted.
Further construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project will have grave
consequences. The Bank has already accepted its responsibility to ensure
that its loan agreements are complied with. We call on the World Bank to
turn its words into action and ensure that the Government of India meets
its obligations to the people affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project. The
Bank should begin this process by immediately initiating consultations with
the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Until these conditions have been met, the Bank
should suspend all further disbursements and approvals of new loans for
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Sincerely,
NAME, GROUP, COUNTRY
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