The Indian government continues to brutally suppress the peaceful resistance to the construction of the $436-million Maheshwar Dam in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Following months of escalating tension, police violently attacked and arrested over 200 people on May 20 in Gandhinagar, Maheshwar, one of seven locations where people have acted as human barricades to block construction equipment and supplies from entering the dam site.
Since October, protesters from more than 60 villages have, on numerous occasions, occupied the dam site in an effort to force the government to agree to their demands. After initially capitulating, the government has reneged on promises made to the protesters to stop dam construction until a review of the project's costs and benefits could be completed. Among the concerns of the protesters is the project's lack of environmental impact studies and resettlement plans, as well as the lack of public participation in the planning process. One of more than 3,000 dams planned for the Narmada River as part of the Narmada Valley Development Project, the Maheshwar Dam would submerge over 5,000 hectares of land and displace 2,200 families.
Preliminary work on Maheshwar began in 1996. Scheduled to be completed in 2002, the concession to build and operate the 400-megawatt dam was given to S. Kumars, a textile firm with no experience in dam building. The company is receiving public subsidies and guarantees to ensure that private investors will make a profit. As a result, the sizable financial risks of the project are being borne by the public.
Following a year-long struggle, the Madhya Pradesh government on January 30, 1998, conceded to the demands of Narmado Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement or NBA) and issued a written order announcing that it would suspend construction on the dam pending a comprehensive review of its costs, benefits and alternatives. Following this action, the NBA called off a 21-day dam site occupation by thousands of local people.
The task force assigned with completing this review was originally established to review the entire Narmada Valley Development Project. At a special meeting of the task force on March 4, 1998, S. Kumars urged the government to allow construction to resume at Maheshwar for "safety purposes." Skeptical about the motives of S. Kumars and certain that this move was to reassure investors the project would not be significantly delayed, the NBA opposed this request. Nevertheless, the government gave in and issued a notification allowing the continuation of "any work for the purposes of safety and resettlement."
The actions of the Indian government triggered further dam site occupations. On April 22, over 4,000 people penetrated police barricades to stop construction until the project was fully reviewed. Despite sweltering heat, police blocked the protesters' access to clean drinking water and shelter, forcing people to drink oil-contaminated river water. That evening, police arrested those remaining at the site, bringing the day's arrests to a total of 1,200 protesters.
The following day, hundreds more protesters dodged police barricades and once again took over the dam site. The police, without warning or provocation, reacted violently, repeatedly beating the protesters with batons and rifle butts, charging them on horseback and making sexual epithets against female protesters. By evening, over 2,000 people were in jail and at least 23 hospitalized. Many badly beaten protesters were taken to jail without being treated.
Since early May, seven blockades of 30 to 50 people each at key entry points to the dam site have successfully slowed construction. Desperate to resume work and prove to nervous investors that the project would not be delayed, S. Kumars has pushed the government to mobilize thousands of police in the area. After the arrests on May 20, about 15 trucks were able to penetrate the blockades and deliver construction supplies to the dam site.
Nevertheless, protesters have announced their determination to continue the blockade, and at press time hundreds of people were traveling towards the site to replace those arrested. The ongoing protests have been organized with the help of the NBA, India's premier dam-fighting organization. The NBA is best known for its struggle against the infamous Sardar Sarovar Dam and has been leading the movement against the Maheshwar Dam.
The police brutality and government misdealing have been condemned in a declaration signed by more than 186 human rights, environment, women's and labour organizations from India and 35 other countries. This declaration calls for the government to cease the repression at Maheshwar and for companies to withdraw until the demands of the people are met.
In an important victory, the vice president of US-based Pacificorps Development Company, which had worked on financing the project, announced that the company did "not intend to participate further in the [Maheshwar] project." He added that if Pacificorps were to reevaluate the project in the future, "it would only be under the condition that the needs of the mass of effected people be properly addressed and consensus regarding how the project proceeds [be] reached by all stakeholders, including Narmada Bachao Andolan." [See Pacificorps article on page 7.]
Pacificorps had been expected to hold or underwrite nearly half the shares in the project company through its subsidiary PacGen. Recently, Pacificorps sold off PacGen, but it has retained all overseas interests of PacGen, including Maheshwar.
To help the struggle, write the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister calling upon him to stop work at the project, withdraw the police and immediately resume the task force's review: Digvijay Singh, Chief Minster, Vallabh Bhavan, Bhopal; fax 91 755 540 501.
For more information, contact Susanne Wong, International Rivers Network, 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94703; (510) 848-1155, fax 848-1008; swong@irn.org; www.irn.org