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>DAM OCCUPATION VICTORY FOR PROTESTERS
>
>By Shripad Dharmadhikary
>
>MAHESHWAR DAM SITE, Madhya Pradesh, India, February 2, 1998 (ENS) - A
>dramatic midnight announcement of capitulation by the state government of
>Madhya Pradesh has ended the protest occupation of the Maheshwar dam site.
>The site of this enormous hydropower project has been occupied by thousands
>of demonstrators since January 11, and an indefinite fast was started on
>January 26 by area residents worried that their land and homes would be
>submerged and that environmental impacts on the region would be severe and
>irreversible.
>
>On the evening of January 30, even as the news that the government had
>almost accepted the demands spread in the submergence area, thousands of
>people started pouring in to the occupation site. By midnight, the crowd
>had swelled from 3,000 to over 8,000. At midnight, the Deputy Chief
>Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Subhash Yadav, came to the dam site and
>made the official announcement, accompanied by written government orders.
>
>The government of the state of Madhya Pradesh accepted all demands of the
>protesters, ordering the stoppage of work and a total review of the
>project. The Deputy Chief Minister, Shri Yadav, who made the government
>announcement, is also in charge of the Narmada Development ministry.
>
>In the order dated January 30, issued by the Narmada Valley Development
>Department, the government of Madhya Pradesh ordered the Energy Department
>to stop work on the power house, the dam and also the work of land
>acquisition.
>
>A decision will be taken on the construction only after the report of the
>Task Force created to review this project has been obtained. An
>accompanying order of the same department also directs the Task Force -
>constituted earlier to discuss and prepare a framework of alternative
>planning of the Narmada Valley - to review the Maheshwar project on a
>priority basis.
>
>The Task Force was created following a two-day seminar organized by the
>government of Madhya Pradesh entitled "Narmada Valley Development - Reviews
>and Alternatives." The seminar participants discussed the severe social and
>environmental impacts, financial, economic, cost-benefit aspects of the 30
>large, 135 medium and 3,000 small dams proposed for the valley and the
>possible alternatives to these dams.
>
>The Task Force consists of representatives of the government of Madhya
>Pradesh, independent experts such as Professor Amulya Reddy and
>representatives of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada) including
>Medha Patkar and Alok Agrawaal.
>
>With this victory the year-long struggle has managed to bring the work on
>the project to a grinding halt. The 20 day occupation and 5 day fast have
>been called off. All those on fast are recovering rapidly, including Alok
>Agarwaal who was admitted to the hospital in critical condition after
>withdrawing from the fast.
>
>Meanwhile, protesters are keeping a close watch on how the foreign players
>will react to this government review - including equipment suppliers ABB,
>and Siemens and Bayerische Vereinsbank companies who are giving term loans
>to the project. Peter Bosshard, spokesperson for the Berne Declaration, a
>Swiss non-governmental organization, is calling upon ABB to learn from
>experiences like this protest at Maheshwar and to reconsider its strategic
>focus on large hydropower projects.
>
>---
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Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 10:42:33 -0800
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