| raqs on Mon, 24 Apr 2000 18:53:37 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Anti-DAM Protest |
from: NBA Badwani sent: 22 April 2000 11:55 to: [email protected] subject: ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT! STOP THE MAHESHWAR DAM IN INDIA'S NARMADA VALLEY! The NY-based Ogden Corporation signed a Memorandum of Intent on March 23 to take a 49% equity share in the Maheshwar Dam on India's Narmada River. The project will be a social and economic disaster. If we act together, we can stop this unjust project. We urge you to CALL, FAX, or EMAIL OGDEN ON APRIL 25 and tell them to withdraw from the Maheshwar Dam. Urge them to decline involvement in a project that will potentially destroy local communities and their livelihoods. BARRAGE OGDEN DAY - TUE, APRIL 25 Tell NY-Based Ogden Corp. to Get Out of the Maheshwar Dam Project! Scott Mackin President and CEO, Ogden Corp. tel: 212-868-6000 fax: 212-868-5714 email: [email protected] Kent Burton, VP, Policy & Communications, Ogden tel: 703-246-0833 fax: 703-246-0808 email: [email protected] Background on the Maheshwar Dam Project The dam would affect more than 35,000 farmers, wage laborers, fisher 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. There is not enough land available to rehabilitate the dispossessed. The Madhya Pradesh (MP) State Government has admitted that it has no land to resettle people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Project downstream of Maheshwar. People displaced by the Bargi and Tawa Dams are still fighting for resettlement 10 and 25 years, respectively, after the dams were completed. The affected people, led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement), are determined that they will never let the project be built. The NBA has spearheaded a non-violent movement for 15 years to stop dams on the river Narmada. Over the last two years, thousands of farmers whose lives and livelihoods will be destroyed by the Maheshwar Dam have occupied the dam site nine times, barricaded all roads leading to the dam for three months,and held mass demonstrations and hunger strikes opposing the dam. Since its inception, the project has been plagued by financial problems. Electricity generated by the dam is projected to cost four to five times more than electricity currently produced by the state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). The MP 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. In 1998, the MP Government had constituted a Task Force to review the project. As per the recommendations of the Task Force, the MP Government has decided to halt further construction of other dams on the river Narmada and look for alternatives. However, it is proceeding with the Maheshwar project,even though the Task Force report has detailed better and cheaper alternatives to the Maheshwar Project. Ogden's involvement in the Project In December, the people of the Valley wrote to Ogden outlining the problems with the project and asked Ogden not to proceed with the investment before visiting the Valley and meeting with the people who will be affected by the project. Having not received any reply from Ogden, more than 300 newly elected representatives from the Valley passed a resolution opposing the project and sent it to Ogden. In spite of this, Ogden signed a Memorandum of Intent on March 23 to take a 49% equity share in the Maheshwar Dam Project. Not only were Ogden's representatives not able to meet with and talk with the affected people, to add salt to the wounds, they also claim that they visited the villages and that ".. most families we saw were pleased and appreciative of the project" . CALL, FAX, or EMAIL OGDEN ON APRIL 25 TELL OGDEN TO WITHDRAW FROM MAHESHWAR DAM !! FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit www.narmada.org or www.irn.org Or mail your Quary to : [email protected], [email protected] # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]