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Thousands celebrate withdrawal of US power utility from Maheshwar
Project,protest indiscriminate globalisation and privatization.
"People's strength will prevail over the profit motives of private
companies and multinationals"
Nearly 8000 people affected by the Maheshwar Hydro-Electric project being
built on the river Narmada in Madhya Pradesh marched in the nearby town
of Mandleshwar in celebration of the withdrawal of the US power utility
Ogden from this destructive Project, and against the forces of
privatization and globalization that put the quest for corporate profits
over survival concerns. Jubilant women and men threw gulal into the air
, chanting slogans like "Ogden Company has had to go /Now we will stop
the Maheshwar dam." The villagers thronged at the Narmada ghats at
Mandleshwar, offering prayers to their revered Narmada Mai. The marchers
then came together in a massive meeting that lasted till evening.At the
end of the meeting, the affected people took a resolve to fight and stop
not only the immediate destruction being wrought by the
Maheshwar Project, but also the pauperization and the slavery that is
being brought into the country in the name of globalisation.
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A large number of representatives from trade unions and people's
organizations from all over the country joined the celebrations and the
protest action. These included Kisan Adivasi Sangathan, Shramik Adivasi
Sangathan, Hind Mazdoor Sabha,Ekta Parishad,Kasturbagram Mahila
Ashram,Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan, Khedut Mazdoor Chetna
Sanghat, Bargi Bandh Visthapit Sangh, the BHEL Worker's Union , M.P. Bank
Employees Association, M.P. Vitta Nigam Karmachari Sangh, City Trade
Union Council, Indore Division Insurance Employees Association, people
affected by various projects in the Narmada Valley including Sardar
Sarovar, Man, Bargi etc. as well as several illustrious supporters from
Delhi ,Pune, Nasik, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Bangalore and other parts
of the country.
The US power utility Ogden had signed a Memorandum of Intent in
March,2000 during US President Clinton's India visit , to invest 49% of
the Project equity and to thus become half owners of the Project .However
after a period of 8 months by December, 2000 Ogden had completed its due
diligence and finding the Project flawed on economic counts as well as
facing stiff resistance in the valley and outside, took a decision to
withdraw from the Project. The withdrawal of Ogden has confirmed the
truth of the issues being raised by the Andolan as well as the strength
of the people's struggle.
It may be recalled that in the face of the determined struggle of the
affected people in the last 4 years, several power utilities from the US
and Germany, notably the Pac Gen, Bayernwerk and VEW Energie have
withdrawn one after another from this Project. In August,2000, following
a very critical report on the status of the resettlement in the valley ,
the Rs. 530 crore tied loan to the Maheshwar Project from the private
German bank- the HypoVereinsbank also fell through .
Addressing the gathering, Mangat Verma from the first dam affected
village Lepa said that the Maheshwar project will affect the lives, lands
and livelihoods of more than 50,000 people of the area, including
thousands of Dalit, Kewat and Kahar families who are dependent on the
riverine economy. He pointed out that there is a complete absence of any
cultivable land and other resources for rehabilitation and so the Project
can continue only with serious legal and human rights violations.The
German Development Ministry report of June, 2000 ,the 1999 report of the
Central Environment Ministry and the 1998 report of the Task Force
Committee constituted by the Madhya Pradesh state government have all
criticized the Project, yet, the government seems bent on continuing with
the Project at any cost. He said that if the government would not stop
this destruction, the people would stop it.
Leader of the Maheshwar struggle, Alok Agarwal said that Projects like
Maheshwar can be continued only on the basis of loot. He said that the
average cost of electricity to be produced by this Project is Rs.7 per
unit and the cost of peaking power is Rs. 10 per unit several times more
than the cost of power being presently produced by the MPEB. Yet, the
Madhya Pradesh government will have to give the Project authorities
around Rs.600 crores every year for the next 35 years whether the
electricity is produced or not or can be sold or not.It is to pay for
this that the Madhya Pradesh government has stopped all concessional
electricity to the farmers and single point connections to the poor since
the begining of this year. In the coming days,the government will hike
the power tariffs further in order to pay for Maheshwar power.He said
that there was an international mafia that is interested in selling power
equipment at exhorbitant costs,but the people's strength will prevail
over the profit motives of private companies and multinational
corporations.Maheshwar will not be allowed to be another Enron.
Kalubhai from Village Mardana said that this expensive power will stop
thousands of agricultural pumps and pauperise the peasantry in the state,
bring darkness into the homes of thousands of common people who cannot
afford this power, drive power loom workers to the brink of suicide and
cause small industries to close down.But the farmers and the people of
this state will fight tooth and nail against this Project and the
anti-people energy policies of the government.
Shri Vasant Shintre of Indore City Trade Union Council said that while on
one hand on the 4th of December, 2000, the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan
Sabha passed the Energy reforms bill that allows the unbundling of the
MPEB into generation ,transmission and distribution components- as steps
prior to privatization,on the other hand,on the 27th of November, another
Bill was passed in the same Vidhan Sabha- the M.P Special Area Securities
Act. This draconian Bill gives the administration to term any people's
organization (or person) which opposes the government as a unlawful
organization or person, and gives it sweeping powers to jail the person
and sell his/her property and even cattle. It is clear that the
government fears that taking away the light from people's lives and water
from their fields will be met with unrest and so is equipping itself with
anti-constitutional and barbaric laws to protect itself.Shintreji said
that the passing of this Act was a direct threat to democracy in this
country. He challenged the government that the people of this country and
this state would oppose and repeal this black law.
The speakers at the meeting said that the withdrawal was a very
significant victory for the Andolan ,and demanded that the Project must
now be completely stopped.At the end of the meeting, the assembled
thousands of people took an oath not only to stop the destructive
Maheshwar Project but also to wage a relentless struggle against the
economic and political enslavement of our country by global corporations
Chittaroopa Palit
Urmila Patidar
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