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dam-l LS: PR: State Govt Unable to Defend Maheshwar Dam



Narmada Bachao Andolan

Camp : Delhi

Press Release January 14, 2000

State Government Unable to Defend Maheshwar Hydel Power Project

Government has no Answers to the Questions of Affected People : The 
People will Stop the Project

The reply given by the M.P. State Government to the questions raised 
by the NBA with regards the Maheshwar Hydel Power Project is not only 
laughable but clearly shows that the Government is unable to defend 
the project. The over 1000 oustees of the project who have since last 
four days refused to leave the Maheshwar jail premises today took out 
a rally in the Maheshwar town and announced that the they will not 
let the project - which will surely destroy the economy of the Nimad 
area and the state - come up, and they will once again go and occupy 
the dam site.

It may be recollected that since four days these oustees are refusing 
to leave the Maheswar jail where they had been taken after being 
arrested from the occupation of the dam site on 11th Jan. '00. They 
have taken a stand that they will not leave till the Government 
answers all the questions they have raised. The questions raised by 
the people were the most basic questions about the project which it 
is the duty of the state Government to make public. These questions 
include :

1.	What will be the capital and other cost of the Maheshwar 
Hydel Power Project
2.	How much power, month wise will it actually generate
3.	What will be the cost of this power
4.	What will be the annual payments that will have to be made to 
the project owners S.Kumars as per the PPA signed by the state with 
them
5.	How much agricultural land has been given to the oustees so far
6.	How much land is available for the resettlement of the oustees
7.	Why have the recommendations of the Task Force set up by the 
State Government itself not been implemented
8.	Why is the work on the dam being allowed to proceed even 
though the Central Ministry of Environment and Forests has declared 
in its report that there is no land to resettle the oustees?

The Khargone M.P. Shri Tarachand Patel and the Badwah MLA Shri 
Jagdish Moranya had clearly conveyed these questions to the Chief 
Minister and the Indore Commissioner by personally meeting them. The 
district Collector has written a "reply" to these yesterday which 
does not address these questions, but rather, evades the key issues.

The letter written by Shri Bhupal Singh, Collector, Khargone, says 
that the cost per unit of the power generated will not be Rs. 10. (As 
NBA analysis shows). From this it can be inferred that it could even 
be more. But what the actual cost (rate) will be has been suppressed. 
It is written in the letter that agricultural land will be given to 
the oustees "as far as possible". This is a mockery of the 
resettlement policy which states explicitly that land will be given 
in lieu of land. The use of the words "as far as possible" indicates 
clearly that the Government and project authorities are preparing to 
evict the oustees without full resettlement. There is no reply as to 
how much area will become waterlogged. Similarly, the Collector has 
stated in the letter that the state will not have to make annual 
payments of Rs. 600 crores to S.Kumars - but has omitted to mention 
how much the payments will be. There is no clear answer about the 
amount of generation of power also. From all this, it is clear that 
the state Government wants to keep the people of the state in the 
dark, and is deliberately avoiding giving answers to the questions.

 From the letter of the Collector, it has become clear that the 
Government has failed miserably in establishing the "public purpose" 
or "public interest" of the Mahehswar project but rather, has avoided 
the key issues.  From this, it can be seen that that the project is 
being pushed forward only to benefit the vested interests including 
the national and international capitalists. And that the state and 
the country will have to pay a heavy price for this.

After this dismal reply from the State Government the people 
occupying the Maheshwar jail since last four days took out a rally in 
Mahehswar town and announced that they will now go to the people of 
the state and the country with this issue and the reply of the 
Government. They also announced that they could go and occupy the dam 
any day, any time to stop the work on the dam, and with the 
supporters from all over the state and the country continue the 
indefinite struggle to stop this destructive project. While the 
Government and project authorities are trying to downplay the 
struggle by trying to spread blatant lies about the number of people 
who occupied the dam site being only 400, the people have reasserted 
that their strength and determination cannot be suppressed by false 
reports but will be seen in the coming days by all.

The NBA expresses surprise and concern that the State Government and 
S.Kumars have failed in establishing the public interest that would 
be supposedly be served by the project which is being built in the 
name of public interest. NBA's analysis already shows that the power 
from the project would cost Rs. 8-10 per unit. According to the 
skewed PPA signed with S.Kumars, the state will have to make annual 
payments of about Rs. 600 crores. From this, it is clear that the 
project is being pushed only to benefit certain vested interests. The 
NBA calls for the project to be immediately stopped in the larger 
interest of Nimad, the state and the country.

Sd/-

Alok Agarwaal, NBA

Maheshwar, M.P.

Written in Delhi From the Communication Received From the Field By:

Shripad Dharmadhikary, NBA

Delhi Contact : c/o 642 6783 / 623 7724