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DAM-L LS: Guardian, Independent, ENS Articles on SC Verdict (fwd)
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subject: LS: Guardian, Independent, ENS Articles on SC Verdict
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1. Indian court supports contentious dam, The Guardian - United Kingdom;
Oct 19, 2000
2. Villagers lose their fight to save homes from dam to halt dam, The
Independent - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2000
3. India Court Ruling a Blow to Dam Protesters, Environment News Service,
Oct 18, 2000
-------------------------------
Indian court supports contentious dam
The Guardian - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2000
BY LUKE HARDING IN NEW DELHI
-------------------------------
Campaigners against a controversial dam project in India yesterday
condemned a decision by the supreme court in Delhi to allow stalled
construction work to resume immediately.
The court ruled by 2-1 that the Sardar Sarovar dam in the western state of
Gujarat could be built to a height of 90 metres - it is currently 88 metres
high. Work halted six years ago after objections from environmentalists and
villagers whose homes have been submerged by the project.
The decision was yesterday greeted with horror by Booker-prize winning
novelist Arundhati Roy, who has campaigned against the dam. She told the
Guardian: 'It is the most disastrous judgment I could possibly have imagined.'
Roy, who was arrested in January after leading a protest march against the
dam, said the ruling was 'shocking and a defeat of democracy'.
The Sardar Sarovar dam is one of a series planned for the Narmada river.
Supporters say the scheme, which involves the construction of 30 major dams
across three states, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, as well as
135 medium and 3,000 small dams, will reduce drought and provide vital
hydroelectric power.
But opponents argue that the supposed benefits do not justify the forcible
displacement of tens of thousands of mainly tribal families in central and
western India.
Lawyers for the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) said
yesterday that villagers in Madhya Pradesh whose homes had already been
swallowed up had not yet received any land as compensation.
The dissenting judge, S P Bharucha, said that all construction activities
at the dam site should be stopped so that a detailed environmental survey
could be carried out. But he was over-ruled by his two colleagues, who were
satisfied by the aothorities' relief and rehabilitation measures.
Following the ruling, triumphant state officials in Gujarat celebrated by
letting off firecrackers. They said work would resume immediately.
Opponents said the campaign would now return to the Narmada valley itself.
-------------------------------
Villagers lose their fight to save homes from dam to halt dam
The Independent - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2000
-------------------------------
A HUGE dam regarded as a symbol of environmental, political and cultural
calamity was approved yesterday by a majority decision in India's Supreme
Court.
The giant Sardar Sarovar dam, on the Narmada river in Gujarat, has been
stuck 40 metres short of its intended height of 138 metres since
environmental activists representing the tens of thousands the dam will
displace lodged a case against the authorities in 1994. Yesterday in Delhi,
Justices Kirpal and Anand swept aside objections and directed that the dam
should be completed as quickly as possible.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA, the Narmada People's Movement), which
sprang up to oppose this and dozens of other big dams being built along the
Narmada river, which meanders through four central Indian states, has
become the most formidable non-violent people's movement since Mahatma
Gandhi led India's struggle for independence.
Yesterday the woman most closely identified with the NBA, Medha Patkar,
said she was "very much disappointed" but that she would "fight to the
finish. I will not leave it here. I have to take this fight, this issue,
this agitation . . . to its logical end, and this judgment is not the
logical end. The people have no option. What will they do when they are
evicted and they are not offered alternative land?"
Arundhati Roy, the Booker Prize-winning novelist and NBA supporter, said:
"Two of the three Supreme Court judges came out with an outrageous
judgment, and all of us are in shock."
The gigantic scheme to turn the 1,300km-long Narmada into a series of
reservoirs to bring water and electricity to drought-prone regions of the
country was conceived in 1948, one year after independence, and has all the
hallmarks of the massive projects of that era.
The Sardar Sarovar dam has been dogged by controversy since the outset, and
in 1993 the World Bank withdrew its funding after a fierce campaign by the
dam's opponents. The key weakness of the project, as of the other big dams
on the river, is a failure to provide acceptable rehabilitation and
resettlement ("r and r") programmes for the tens of thousands of people
whose land is inundated.
In Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, has admitted there
is no land available for the people affected. The published "r and r" plans
have been exposed as bland fictions, most recently in a report commissioned
by the German government after the German giant Siemens sought a government
guarantee for a contract to provide turbines.
More than 60 per cent of people displaced by the dams are either tribal or
members of the "scheduled castes", formerly known as "untouchables".
The dam's opponents also claim the flow of the Narmada is far smaller than
was originally claimed, and that it will not generate electricity
economically.
---------------------------
India Court Ruling a Blow to Dam Protesters
Environment News Service, October 18, 2000
---------------------------
BOMBAY, India, October 18, 2000 (ENS) - By a majority of two to one,
India's Supreme Court has allowed work on the half finished Sardar Sarovar
Dam to continue, rejecting calls for an environmental survey to be carried
out.
Sardar Sarovar dam before the level was raised to its current height of 88
meters. (Photo courtesy Sardar Sarovar Project)
The US$5 billion gravity dam on the Narmada River in the western state of
Gujarat is part of the Narmada Valley Development Project scheme. The
Indian government plans to build 30 large, 135 medium and 3,000 small dams
to harness the waters of the Narmada and its tributaries.
It is estimated that more than 300,000 people will have to be resettled
from land to be flooded under the project, which will supply water for
hydropower, irrigation, and municipal and industrial water supply.
The Sardar Sarovar Dam currently stands at 88 meters but will rise to 163
meters when finished. Proponents of the dam claim that it will provide
large amounts of water and electricity which are desperately needed to
develop a poor area.
Opponents question the basic assumptions of the Narmada Valley Development
Plan. They believe the displacement of so many people living in poor and
underprivileged communities is an abuse of human rights. They claim the
plan rests on false and unfounded assumptions of hydrology and seismicity
in the area.
They argue that water and energy can be provided to the people of the
Narmada Valley, Gujarat and other regions through alternative technologies
and planning processes, which can be socially just and economically and
environmentally sustainable.
Medha Patkar, a commissioner of the World Commission on Dams, called
today's verdict by the Indian Supreme Court "illogical, dangerous and
anti-people."
Medha Patkar. (Photo courtesy World Commission on Dams)
"The Supreme Court has violated the spirit of the constitution of India and
democratic governance," she said. "The court has totally neglected the
fundamental rights of the most vulnerable section of our society and also
the serious issues raised regarding the propriety of the dam.
"Instead, it has provided a weapon in the hands of the power holders to
indiscriminately displace the project affected people and crush their rights."
Patkar vowed to fight the judiciary and its decision "tooth and nail."
"We call upon the people of India who value democracy and constitution to
challenge this decision and ask the court to restore the people's rights in
the Narmada valley."
The court case was brought by the foremost campaign group, Narmada Bachao
Andolan (Save The Narmada Campaign). Its lawsuit filed in the public
interest alleged that the dam's impact studies were incomplete and
environmental and other conditions unfulfilled.
One of the three judges, Justice S.P. Bharucha, wanted all construction
activities at the dam site to stop so that a detailed environmental survey
could be carried out. But he was outvoted by Chief Justice A.S. Anand and
B.N. Kirpal, who said they were satisfied by the relief and rehabilitation
measures taken by the state authorities.
Their decision means that the dam can be raised by two meters, to 90
meters. But the judges ruled that to raise the dam beyond 90 meters would
need approval from an environmental authority appointed to undertake the task.
In a joint statement, Venu Govindu and Subramaniam Vincent of the Friends
of River Narmada, expressed solidarity with Narmada Bachao Andolan, and
echoed calls for the campaign against the dam to continue.
Determined village women march to the Narmada River at Domkhedi last
August. (Photo courtesy Friends of Narmada)
"The design and planning process of the Sardar Sarovar Project has been
inherently unjust, without an iota of people's participation," the said.
"The different state governments and the Union of India has exhibited a
singular lack of interest and concern towards the welfare of the poor and
underprivileged people whose lives would be devastated by this project.
"Moreover, there is a heap of evidence that lays bare the fundamental flaws
inherent to the cost benefit analysis of the entire Narmada Valley
Development Plan. In the face of such remarkable evidence, the Supreme
Court judgment delivered today on the project is a mockery of justice and
egalitarianism in a democratic society."
In the early 1990s, the World Bank commissioned its first ever independent
review of a World Bank financed project to investigate problems associated
with the Sardar Sarovar dam. The resulting review, known as the Morse
Report after its leader, Bradford Morse, concluded that numerous violations
of the Bank's environment and resettlement policies had occurred and the
Bank should "step back" from the project.
In 1993, the government of India requested that the World Bank withdraw its
support for the project. The Supreme Court halted work on raising the
height of the dam in January 1995. But last year, it lifted a four year
moratorium on the dam's construction, allowing work to raise the dam wall
from 80.3 meters to 88 meters.
The decision sparked numerous protests by villagers and activists who vowed
to drown in the rising waters behind the dam, rather than move from their
homes.
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