The following is an up-date and further information on the Narmada Dam project
in India. If you would like to place your name on the letter/petition at the
end of this message please reply to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
and he will add it to the India Alert! list of names.
Also, feel free to post this message to any other lists.
FOR URGENT ACTION PLEASE TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY
EVERY HOUR COUNTS
The battle over the Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) dam project in India
has reached a critical juncture. Medha Patkar and three other
members of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement)
are in their 19th day of fasting in protest of further construction
of the Sardar Sarovar dam in India. The dam height has now reached
69 meters and the construction advisory committee (composed of
officials from all three Indian states) has just approved raising
the dam height to 80.3 meters. During the 1994 monsoon season
waters rising behind the partially constructed dam flooded 35
tribal villages, destroying 170 homes and 500 fields of subsistence
crops. A majority of the people being displaced by the project are
refusing to move from their homes even as the waters are rising.
Raising the dam height to 80 meters will result in virtually all
tribal villages being submerged in the 1995 monsoon season.
Faced with intense pressure from the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the
Indian Government began an independent review of the project in
1993 which was completed earlier this year. The report which is
critical of the project has never been publicly released, nor has
it recommendations been considered by the relevant government
officials. In early 1994, The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) filed a
comprehensive case against the central and state governments in the
Indian Supreme Court. The next hearing date is December 13th.
Despite these developments, the central and state government are
pressing ahead with construction.
The NBA has launched an indefinite hunger strike since November
21st in Bhopal. They are demanding that all construction on the
project be stopped and that the Indian Independent Review of the
project be released and the Supreme Court case be heard. Medha
Patkar is now is her 19th day of fasting; she is in extremely poor
health and is in danger of total collapse at any moment. The
central government seems to be indifferent and an NBA meeting today
with Minister V.C. Shukla was ineffective. The NBA believes that
international pressure on the Indian Government will help to break
the deadlock.
The Role of the World Bank
>From 1985-1993, the World Bank funded the Sardar Sarovar project
despite overwhelming evidence of the social, environmental and
economic unsoundness
of the project. After years of intense international and Indian
pressure the Bank appointed an independent team to investigate the
environment and resettlement problems in the project. The review
team known as the Morse Commission issued an extensive report which
questioned the viability of the project and called on the Bank to
"step back" from the project. In March 1993, the World Bank was
forced to cancel its remaining loan for the project. However the
legal agreements (which contain important conditions on environment
and resettlement) between the Government of India and the World
remain in effect today. The World Bank has done nothing to enforce
the loan conditions. In fact if the loan conditions had been
enforced, construction on the project would have been stopped.
PLEASE TAKE URGENT ACTION---EVERY DAY IS CRITICAL
The NBA has asked for faxes and letters to be sent urgently to the
Prime Minster Rao of India asking for all construction to be
stopped. Please try to get as many groups as possible in your
country to send separate faxes to the Prime Minister on their own
letterhead. Please copy your letter to the Lewis Preston, President
of the World Bank.
Attached is sample letter.
Prime Minister Rao's Fax Numbers
91-11-301-6857 or 91-11-301-9817
Prime Minister Narasimha Rao
7 Racecourse Road
New Delhi 110001
India
By Fax: 91-11-301-6857 or 91-11-301-9817
Dear Prime Minister Rao,
We are writing to you in support of Medha Patkar and other Narmada
Bacho Andolan Members who are on an indefinite fast in Bhopal in
protest of further construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam project.
Last year when the Independent Review team was appointed we were
encouraged that the Indian central government was playing a key
role in promoting an independent comprehensive investigation into
the complex issues raised by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. However,
we now understand that the review was never publicly released and
that its recommendations never considered by the relevant
government officials. We further understand that a comprehensive
case against the central and state governments on Sardar Sarovar is
being heard in the Supreme Court. To allow further construction
before the Supreme Court fully considers the case and before the
review is released could certainly undermine democratic traditions
of due process in India.
We strongly urge you to ensure that construction on the dam is
halted immediately until critical issues of dam height, project
viability and resettlement have been concretely addressed, and
until the independent review is publicly released and the
recommendations have been acted upon. Allowing further dam
construction can only bring more devastation and tragedy to the
tribal people in the Narmada Valley. We will continue to monitor
this situation closely.
Sincerely,
cc: Lewis Preston
President
The World Bank
1818 H Street
Washington, D.C.
Fax: 202-477-1305
