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dam-l LS: Women Protesting Maheshwar Dam Beaten Up on
International Women's Day
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
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Both ENDS International Rivers Network
Damrak 28-30 1847 Berkeley Way
1012 LJ Amsterdam Berkeley, CA 94703
The Netherlands USA
water@bothends.org patrick@irn.org
www.bothends.org www.irn.org
===============PRESS RELEASE==============
World Water Forum in The Hague, 22nd March 2000
Women Protesting Maheshwar Dam Beaten Up on International Women's Day
NGOs request Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to address tragedy of
Sardar Sarovar and Maheshwar
ABB and Siemens urged to pull out of dam project
While the world celebrated International Women's Day, women
protesting against displacement by the Maheshwar Dam on the Narmada
River in India were beaten up, abused and forcefully removed by the
police. This happened on the same day that representatives of the
international firms ABB and Siemens were expected to visit the dam
site. By using such violence, the police meant to prevent any contact
between these foreign visitors and the affected villagers. During the
World Water Forum in The Hague, NGOs from various countries urged
Chief Minister Digvijay Vijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh to halt
construction of the dams and put an end to the continuing police
violence against the local population. Mr Singh spoke during the
World Water Forum about 'Making Water Everybody's Business'.
The Maheshwar dam will uproot an estimated 35.000 people from their
land. The threat of forced displacement has given rise to one the
world's most committed women's movements. These women and their
families are having to endure police aggression, at the instigation
of the dam contractor S.Kumar, as if they were the company's private
army.
NGOs and concerned scientists present at the World Water Forum in The
Hague also urged ABB and Siemens to immediately disassociate
themselves from this project. There is mounting evidence from local
and international experts that the project will prove to be
economically non-viable and that it will never generate the promised
amount of electricity. It is time for ABB and Siemens to open their
eyes and see the Maheshwar Dam for what it is, an ill-conceived
project running into enormous cost over-runs, tremendous local
opposition and increasingly violent conflicts.
The government will have to face the fact that there is not enough
land to adequately resettle and compensate the uprooted people. We
urge Chief Minister Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh to put an end to
police brutality against affected villagers, and to cancel the
Maheshwar project.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Wolvekamp, Both ENDS: cell-phone: 06-28228094
Patrick McCully, IRN, +1 510 848 1155 or: www.narmada.org