From owner-irn-narmada@igc.org Tue Feb 3 01:15:47 1998 Return-Path: Received: from igc7.igc.org (igc7.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.35]) by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id BAA20207 for ; Tue, 3 Feb 1998 01:15:36 -0500 (EST) Received: from igc3.igc.apc.org (igc3.igc.org [192.82.108.33]) by igc7.igc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id UAA29667; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:03:11 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id UAA09810; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:03:06 -0800 (PST) Received: from [198.94.3.96] (patrick@ppp6-39.igc.org) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id UAA09781 for ; Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:02:55 -0800 (PST) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:09:33 -0800 From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk X-Old-Sender: owner-irn-narmada@igc.org Subject: PR: Victory Celebrations At Maheshwar Dam Site To: irn-narmada@igc.org X-Sender: patrick@pop.igc.org Status: OR PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, February 3, 1997 Patrick McCully Campaigns Director (510) 848-1155 Protesters Celebrate Victory At Maheshwar Dam State Government Agrees to Halt Construction, Review Project Thousands of Indian villagers are today gathering on the banks of the Narmada River in central India to celebrate victory in their year-long campaign against the Maheshwar hydropower dam. The Madhya Pradesh state government has suspended project construction pending a complete review of its costs, benefits, and environmental and social impacts. Late in the night of January 30, the state's Deputy Chief Minister gave the several thousand protesters at the construction site written assurances that work on the dam would be suspended. The protesters, led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA - Save the Narmada Movement), then called off their 20-day occupation of the Maheshwar site and a five-day-old indefinite fast. One of the six fasters, NBA activist Mr. Alok Agarwaal, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition after stopping his fast. He is now said to be recovering rapidly. The other fasters were local villagers and Mr Sitarambhai from the submergence area of the infamous Sardar Sarovar Dam downstream of Maheshwar. Construction on Sardar Sarovar has been suspended since January 1995. Excavations for the foundations of Maheshwar Dam began last year. Work has been stopped since January 21 when 10,000 villagers, the majority of them women, invaded the construction site. The dam would submerge some 2,500 acres of land, affecting around 2,200 families in 61 villages. The concession to build and operate the 400 megawatt Maheshwar Dam was given to S. Kumars, an Indian textile and tires company with no prior experience in dam projects. Financing was being sought from private investors in India and abroad. Swiss-Swedish engineering giant ABB and German firm Siemens were to supply generating equipment. Maheshwar would have been the first privately financed large hydro project in India. NBA leader Ms. Medha Patkar says: "In 1993 we threw the World Bank out of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, now we have thrown the private companies out of Maheshwar. This struggle has been led by women and financed by the farmers of the valley. This will send a strong message to Indian and foreign corporations that privatization will not be accepted on their terms. The people will decide how development proceeds in the Narmada Valley." Ms. Patkar and Mr. Agarwaal will both be members of the Task Force to review Maheshwar, along with experts on alternative energy generation and water management, and Madhya Pradesh government officials. The Task Force was formed in late December to prepare a framework for redesigning the entire Narmada Valley Development Project (NVDP). The NVDP is a gargantuan plan to build 30 major, 135 medium and 3000 small dams on the Narmada River and its tributaries. The Narmada is India's longest westward-flowing river. Medha Patkar says: "The Task Force will give priority to reviewing Maheshwar. This will mark the beginning of a basin-wide process of developing alternatives to the Narmada Valley Development Project, village by village, watershed by watershed, with the full participation of local people." Maheshwar is the second big hydro project embarrassment for ABB in the last six months. In September, ABB lost its largest ever contract - a $5.4 billion agreement to build Malaysia's now indefinitely postponed Bakun Dam. Patrick McCully, Campaigns Director of International Rivers Network, says: "ABB should get out of the hydropower business now and save itself further embarrassment and financial loss. IRN and other dam critics warned them that Bakun would collapse and we warned them about Maheshwar. Maybe now they will start to listen to dam opponents." ENDS For more information: Patrick McCully, IRN, Berkeley, California +1 510 848 1155 Medha Patkar/Shripad Dharmadhikary, NBA, India +91 265 382232 INTERNATIONAL RIVERS NETWORK 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA Tel: (510) 848-1155 / Fax: (510) 848-1008 / irn@irn.org / www.irn.org