Text :
21.09.99 : India : Narmada : Hundreds
Arrested In Shoulder-Deep Water at Domkhedi. Others Still Standing in Rising
Waters
Around 300 people were arrested in Domkhedi after police
entered the
Maharashtra village around 4pm today. The police dragged
Ms Medha Patkar,
Mr Sitarambhai Patidar and Mr Devram Kanera out of shoulder-deep
water in
the satayagrah (struggle) house. The police broke down
the wall of the
house as the water at the door of the house was too deep
to enter. Medha
was kicked during her arrest, others were also kicked,
slapped and beaten.
The three activists from the Samarpit Dal - the "Dedicated
Squad" of the
Narmada Bachao Andolan - had spent around 27 hours standing
in the steadily
rising water of the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir. The other
villagers and
activists arrested had been gathered near the satayagrah
house in support
of the Samarpit Dal. Those arrested are being held at
higher elevatations
in Domkhedi.
People are still facing the rising waters at other villages
alongside the
Narmada. Villagers in the lowest houses in the Maharashtra
villages of
Sikka, Bharad and Pipalchop, downstream of Domkhedi,
are reported to be in
water between knee and waist height. At Jalsindhi in
Madhya Pradesh, around
70-80 people are standing together with Luharia Shankaria
who lives in the
lowest house in the village. Latest reports state that
the water in
Luharia's house is around 1.5 feet deep.
The waters have been flooding fields and houses in Maharashtra
and Madhya
Pradesh since 17th evening. The four days of flooding
have caused serious
damage to property and suffering to people. But at the
same time, the
people of the Narmada Valley and the activists of the
Andolan and NBA
leader Medha Patkar have stood firm in their resolve
that they will drown
but not move.
On Saturday, 18 September, Medha and 135 others were arrested
from
waist-deep waters in a house in Pipalchop. They were
released on the
following day, after which they went to Domkhedi. Yesterday
the waters rose
again and the Samarpit Dal stood in the waters once again.
Nandini Oza, NBA, Baroda.
10:30 pm, Tuesday, 21 September 1999
Tel +91 265 382232
nba@lwbdq.lwbbs.net
21.09.99 : Narmada action alert - protest
the submergence
PLEASE FAX INDIAN OFFICALS TO PROTEST DISASTER CAUSED
BY ILLEGAL SUBMERGENCE
IN THE NARMADA VALLEY AND SUPPORT DEMANDS OF NARMADA
BACHAO ANDOLAN
Dear Friends
The villagers of the Narmada Valley are currently facing
disastrous floods
caused by the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Villagers and activists
are risking their
lives to show their opposition to this illegal submergence.
See the press
release below for the latest news from the Valley.
The NBA is urging supporters to write to the governments
of the three
states involved to call for them to respond to the NBA's
demands. The NBA
believes that "rescuing" the people from the rising waters
by arresting
them is a cosmetic solution. Fundamental solutions are
needed, including a
halt to construction while a comprehensive and participative
review of the
project is carried out. Letters should make clear that
it is the states
which are responsible for the destruction and loss in
the valley. Letters
should be cc'd to the Indian President and, for overseas
supporters, Indian
Ambassadors and Consuls General. A short sample letter
is given below.
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Chief Minister
As you must be aware, dam-created flooding is currently
causing widespread
destruction and suffering in the Narmada Valley. Villagers
and NBA
activists are at serious risk of drowning because of
their determination to
oppose the submergence, which is illegal under the terms
of the Narmada
Water Disputes Tribunal.
The state governments which have allowed this submergence
to happen are
responsible for the current crisis in the Narmada Valley.
Arresting NBA
supporters and dragging them out of the rising waters
is no solution. The
only way a resolution can be found is if construction
on Sardar Sarovar Dam
is halted and a comprehensive and participatory review
of the project
carried out, as is demanded by the NBA.
Yours sincerely,
Important Addresses :
Mr. Digvijay Singh
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
Shyamala Hills
Bhopal
Madhya Pradesh, India
Fax: +91 (755) 540 501
(often this fax does not work - telegraphs can be sent)
+++++++++++++++
Mr Narayan Rane,
Chief Minster,
Mantralaya,
Mumbai,
Maharashtra
Fax : +91-22-363 1446 or 202 9214
+++++++++++++++
Dr. K. R. Narayanan,
The Honorable President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi
India
Fax +91 (011) 3014570, +91 (011) 3017290
Email: pressecy@alpha.nic.in
+++++++++
Ambassador Naresh Chandra
Indian Embassy
Washington, DC
Fax 202 483 3972
amb-washington@indiagov.org
+++++++++
R.M. Abhyankar
Consul-General
Indian Consulate
San Francisco
Fax 415 668 7968
cg@indianconsulate-sf.org
18.09.99 : India : Narmada: Update:
Dramatic evolution
Dear Friends,
We have news from a supporter in Dhadgaon that Medha
and 70 people have
been arrested at Pipalchop at 5.30 pm. There is no news
of Domkhedi,
Sikka, etc or directly from inside
We had a call from Joe that they have been released,
and are being
taken back!
The water level at the dam site has reached 97.44
mts 6 pm. We have no
information of the water level at Rajghat. The flood
control room has
stopped giving us information and there are conflicting
reports of the
level at Rajghat- some sources say it was 126.95, and
some 125 mts. as
we are not able to get through still to the Badwani office,
we are not
able to get direct information of the level at Rajghat.
Two press people reached Baroda this evening from Pipalchop
and Medha
has sent a note with them as follows written by her at
9 am today
morning ( The press people reported that they left Pipalchop
at 9.30 am,
with the note and at that time Medha and 60-70 people
had already
entered in the lowest hut at Pipalchop and the waters
were knee deep. )
" The fight on the banks of river Narmada has resumed
once again and at
Pipalchop, people are watching the narmada rise.As the
news of rise in
waters spread, people from other villages started arriving
from right
upto Roshmal and Bhilgaon People from Nimad also arrived,
the mood was
of Samarpan. Supporters from Kerala like expert on small
hydro electric
scheme, Anilbhai, Manishbhai, from Anand, Gujarat and
youth from Nimad,
brought strength in the struggle.
ALL villagers and supporters were singing and dancing
as waters were
rising in Pipalchop, when the police came and surrounded
them.The
samarpit dal did not get into the hands of the police.
The police in
looking for the Samarpit dal, took many karyakarts and
people into their
custody. Police slapped some, dragged others, and arrested
them. 31
women and 35 men were arrested- they were taken to dhadgaon.
The waters continued to rise at Pipalchop the whole night.
The second
team took position at Noorjia's house and started the
satyagraha. The
whole night people sang songs and raised slogans and
now waters have
risen to knee deep. the waters are very near some other
houses and have
already submerged fields of many people. With anger against
this
destruction people are fighting in the narmada since
past 14 years and
today people are standing in Knee deep water in protest-
No One shall
move dam will not be built. Waters will also enter Domkhedi,
Bharad,
Sikka and Jalsindhi in a short while where people are
on satyagraha as
well. It is the resolve of the people to stop the dam
with commitment to
Samarpan. ( End)
We are still worried as there is no direct or indirect
news from inside
about people at Domkhedi, Sikka, Bharad. The waters may
not have yet
gone into Jalsindhi but may so at night- we have no idea
as Rajghat
levels are not known. But waters have entered Domkhedi,
Sikka and
Bharad. There are many Satyagrahis at each of these places
particularly
at Domkhedi.
for more information : www.narmada.org
14.09.99 : Nile: Nile Basin Initiative Launches
Secretariat Group to develop and manage Nile waters sustainably
from/source:World Bank's web page (via IRN )
The Nile River, the world's longest waterway, spans a
vast area of the
African continent and provides a lifeline and livelihood
for millions of
people. To ensure that the waters of the Nile are developed
and managed in a
sustainable way, the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat
officially opened its
doors in Entebbe, Uganda, last week.
The opening came at the conclusion of the fifth meeting
of the Nile Technical
Advisory Committee-the technical arm of the recently
launched Nile Basin
Initiative (NBI). The initiative is a new regional partnership,
supported and
facilitated by the World Bank and others, within which
countries of the Nile
basin have united in common pursuit of the river's sustainable
development
and management.
The Nile River Basin straddles 10 countries and is home
to 250 million of the
world's poorest people. Water shortages are already faced
by many areas of
the region.
Building on earlier efforts, the NBI was launched in Dar
es Salaam in
February 1999. The initiative's inception and growth
over the last eight
months has been significant because for the first time
in history, all Nile
basin countries have expressed a serious concern about
the need for joint
discourse. They have agreed to pursue such discourse
under the framework
of the NBI as a transitional arrangement until a permanent
legal and
institutional framework is in place.
At the heart of the initiative is a shared vision of achieving
"sustainable
socio-economic development through the equitable utilization
of, and benefit
from, the common Nile Basin water resources." NBI member
countries are
Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda,
Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The newly launched Nile Secretariat will be the nucleus
for planning and
coordination of NBI activities. It serves both the Technical
Advisory
Committee and the Nile Council of Ministers, the NBI's
highest
decisionmaking body. The council is made up of water
affairs ministers of
the Nile basin states. The Technical Advisory Committee
supports the
Council of Ministers and is made up of senior officials
from member
countries.
During its deliberations last week, working groups of
the Technical Advisory
Committee examined various priority projects including
efficient water use
for agricultural production, opportunities for power
trade in the basin, and
water resources planning and management. Other project
areas discussed
include environmental analysis and management, applied
training, and public
information. The meetings were significant in that they
now take the NBI
process from planning to more substantive work on the
ground.
Guests at the launch ceremony included senior officials
of government and
representatives of the Nile Basin states, members of
the diplomatic corps in
Uganda, representatives of various international and
bilateral donor agencies
and regional organizations. Ugandan Minister of Water,
Lands and
Environment Henry Kajura emphasized the NBI's role in
helping to reduce
poverty in the basin and commended the initiative for
the remarkable
progress achieved thus far.
Kajura, himself a member of the NBI Council of Ministers,
described the
Nile Basin Initiative as an opportunity for win-win development,
and one
that could only have a positive impact on the entire
Nile Basin community as
it underscored the advantages of sharing the benefits
of water.
Other donors include the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP)
and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Many other
development partners are now joining in their support
of the Initiative,
including the Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
and the governments
of Italy, Netherlands, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany,
Norway and
Sweden. The cooperative partners all expressed their
continued commitment
and support for the Nile Basin Initiative.
14.09.99 : Donau: Umweltschaeden in Jugoslawien
weiten sich aus (WWF Studie)
Folgen der Bombenangriffe im Kosovo-Krieg / Giftstoffe gefaehrden
auch Nachbarstaaten
Berlin, Gland (Schweiz), 14. September 1999.
Ein Expertenteam der internationalen Naturschutzorganisation
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) bestaetigte Umweltschaeden in Jugoslawien
als Folge des Kosovo-Krieges. Auf einer Pressekonferenz in Berlin rief
der WWF dazu auf, diese Schaeden moeglichst schnell einzudaemmen und zu
beseitigen, um eine weitere Ausbreitung der Schadstoffe zu verhindern.
Die Experten fanden heraus, dass sich toxische Substanzen, die durch die
Bombardierung von Industrieanlagen freigesetzt worden waren, immer noch
ausbreiten und benachbarte Regionen bedrohen.
In einer gleichzeitig veroeffentlichten Kurzstudie stellte
der WWF oekologische Auswirkungen der Bombardierung zweier jugoslawischer
Industriekomplexe - der Chemiefabrik in Pancevo sowie der Oelraffinerie
von Novi Sad - vor. Auch wurden Wasserproben der Donau untersucht. In den
Boden- und Wasserproben konnten betraechtliche Mengen Quecksilber, Polyzyklische
Aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe (PAK), Ethylen-Dichlorid und andere hochgiftige
Substanzen, darunter Dioxine, nachgewiesen werden. Die Giftstoffe gefaehrden
Trinkwasservorraete und andere Lebensgrundlagen nicht nur in der Republik
Jugoslawien, sondern auch in benachbarten Staaten.
"Die internationale Gemeinschaft muss sofort finanzielle
und technische Mittel zur Verfuegung stellen, um die Boden- und Wasserschaeden
zu beseitigen", draengte Philip Weller, Direktor des WWF-Donau-Karpaten-Programms
und Leiter der Expertenkommission.
Die Untersuchungen des WWF zeigten zudem enorme Defizite
bei der Kontrolle der Wasserqualitaet in den Laendern Mittel- und Osteuropas.
"Obwohl internationale Programme zur Verbesserung der Wasserqualitaet des
Flusses existieren, war deren Effekt bisher mangelhaft", kritisierte Weller.
Dies erschwere es, Kriegsfolgen und bereits vor dem Krieg bestehende chronische
Verschmutzung zu unterscheiden. "Zuerst ist es jedoch notwendig, die immer
noch anhaltende Verschmutzung sofort zu beenden und die Folgen der Bombardierung
der Industriekomplexe in Pancevo und Novi Sad zu beseitigen", betonte Weller.
Zusaetzlich fordert der WWF eine staendige Verbesserung des Umweltmonitoringprogramms
fuer die Donau durch die Mitglieder der Donauschutzkonvention, zu der Deutschland,
Oesterreich, Ungarn, Rumaenien und Bulgarien gehoeren.
Weitere Informationen:
Philip Weller, WWF Donau-Karpaten-Programm, Tel.: +43
1 488 17 253
Anja Rech, Pressereferentin, Tel.: 0171/589 72 26
Fotos: Claire Thilo, WWF Donau-Karpaten-Programm, Tel.
+43 1 488 17 271
13.09.99 : USA: Washington Post on Dam Deconstruction
Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
Attempts to Revive Fish Stocks Clash With Other Interests
Threat to Snake
River Dams Stirs Passions
By Tom Kenworthy Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday,
September 12, 1999;
Page A03
LEWISTON, Idaho Tamed a generation ago by four federal
dams, the lower
Snake River is less a river today than a broad, slow-moving
ribbon of
commerce.
Near its confluence with the Clearwater River is Potlach
Corp.'s mill,
where barges load 170,000 tons of pulp and paperboard
a year for shipment
to the Pacific. To the north lies the Palouse, the rolling
wheat country
of eastern Washington, its rich bounty contributing to
the 3 million tons
of grain barged down the Snake every year. Downstream,
37,000 acres of
desert-turned-farmland are irrigated by the river's flow,
and the
transmission lines from Lower Granite Dam pump electricity
to Seattle and
beyond.
Little wonder, then, that when Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt stood on
the banks of the Kennebec River in Maine two months ago
and said the
removal of that state's Edwards Dam "is the beginning
of something that is
going to happen across the nation," it was front-page
news in Idaho.
Here, a national debate over tearing down dams as a means
of restoring
depleted fisheries is a major local issue. In December,
the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers will release a long-awaited draft
of a massive study of
whether to rip out the four federal dams on the 140-mile
lower Snake, a $1
billion deconstruction project with enormous economic
and social
implications for the Pacific Northwest that could determine
the fate of
some of the region's most imperiled runs of salmon and
steelhead.
Constructed in the 1960s and 1970s to provide cheap hydroelectric
power,
irrigation water and a transportation link to the Pacific
rim for grain
and wood products from as far away as the northern Great
Plains, the four
lower Snake impoundments--Lower Granite, Little Goose,
Lower Monumental
and Ice Harbor--have been the subject of fierce regional
arguments for the
past decade.
How much of the blame should they shoulder for the precipitous
decline of
Chinook and sockeye salmon that in their epic migrations
to and from the
Pacific must struggle past the concrete barriers? Have
the billions of
dollars in technological fixes to the dams--improved
fish passageways,
safer turbines, and the barging and trucking of young
fish around the
dams--made any difference in survival rates for fish?
Can the Northwest
afford the dislocation and inconvenience of removing
the dams? What is a
fair price to pay for restoring species that symbolize
the Northwest?
The pace of dam deconstruction is picking up across the
country and
national conservation groups hope to strike a blow on
behalf of
free-running rivers and fish. Regional politicians--most
of whom oppose
tearing out the dams--have stepped up their campaign
in anticipation of
what will ultimately be a congressional decision. More
than 100 members of
Congress urged President Clinton in August not to rule
out dam
deconstruction as an option for saving salmon. And presidential
candidates
are already being drawn into the argument, as Texas Gov.
George W. Bush
(R) was during a summer visit to Spokane when he said
he does not believe
the dams have to be breached to save salmon.
Advocates of the commercial interests that depend on the
heavily
engineered Snake River admit they are surprised that
the debate has risen
to the point where tearing out the dams is a serious
option. "I've been
involved in this issue for 10 years and no way would
I have thought we'd
be talking about dam breaching now," said Bruce Lovelin,
executive
director of the Columbia River Alliance, a consortium
of barge, farm and
heavy electric users. "But it's on the table. In spite
of our opposition
to it, it is here and it's heating up."
It is heating up because the nation's 75,000 dams, once
almost universally
viewed as marvels of technological prowess, are increasingly
regarded as
river and fish killers.
"The western landscape is dotted with dead rivers that
are now trails of
dust and dead cottonwood trees," said Babbitt earlier
this summer at the
University of Colorado. "We cannot destroy any more rivers."
Many of the nation's older dams, particularly smaller
ones in the East and
Midwest, have outlived their economic usefulness, and
are ripe for
removal, said Margaret Bowman, senior director of dam
programs for the
conservation group American Rivers. Many are being targeted
by
environmental groups, taking advantage of a wave of license
renewal
reviews by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),
which
regulates power-producing dams.
"I think economics is driving it in many places," said
Bowman. "We
understand better than we did two decades ago how dams
affect rivers. It's
quite expensive to mitigate for those impacts and for
many rivers it is
cheaper to remove dams than mitigate."
The removal of the 162-year-old Edwards Dam in Maine,
which opens up 17
miles of new spawning habitat for Atlantic salmon, striped
bass and
sturgeon, is an example of how once-warring interests
can come together to
restore rivers. The subject of a fierce fight that lasted
a decade, the
Edwards Dam was ultimately doomed by a 1997 FERC decision
that the
economic benefits of keeping it in place and producing
small amounts of
electrical power were outweighed by the environmental
rewards of taking it
down. A complex settlement followed, involving the dam's
owner, the state,
the city of Augusta and other industrial users of the
Kennebec.
Finding that kind of common ground with larger dams in
the West may be
another matter. The Interior Department is moving forward
with plans to
remove two salmon-killing dams on the Elwha River in
western Washington,
but Babbitt has repeatedly clashed with that state's
powerful Republican
senator, Slade Gorton, who chairs the appropriations
subcommittee that
controls Interior's funding.
Gorton opposes removing the four lower Snake dams, a proposal
he called
"an unmitigated disaster and an economic nightmare" in
a speech on the
Senate floor in July. As the Army Corps of Engineers
studies the social
and economic effect of dam removal on the Snake, an effort
that will be
part of a larger environmental opinion by the National
Marine Fisheries
Service on the Columbia River basin's hydropower system,
the commercial
interests that depend on the Snake have geared up for
an epic fight.
For all players, the stakes are high. Potlach ships its
fiberboard for $4
a ton by barge. It would cost $6 a ton by rail. Grain
farmers would pay 28
percent more to ship their produce. Irrigators would
lose their farmland,
or have to retrofit their pumps. And in a region that
enjoys the lowest
electric rates in the nation, the loss of 1,200 megawatts
of power would
cost up to $291 million annually and raise residential
rates by $1.50 to
$5.30 a month.
"Everybody's business strategy, everybody's transportation,
everybody's
customer base is built around the river," said Potlach
spokesman Frank
Carroll.
Among those who would be affected are third-generation
farmer Roger Dye
and his wife Mary, who grow wheat, bluegrass and canola
on 2,500 leased
acres in Pomeroy, Wash.. "If they rip those dams out
and we lose this
life, that's a terribly bitter pill to swallow, and especially
tragic if
the fish don't come back," said Mary Dye.
The fish, everyone recognizes, are on the brink. As recently
as the 1960s,
after construction of other dams on the Columbia but
before the four on
the Snake were erected, 100,000 salmon and steelhead
migrated up the
Snake. Last year, 9,300 steelhead, 8,426 spring-summer
Chinook salmon, 927
fall Chinook and two sockeye made the journey. In this
decade, all those
species have been put on the endangered or threatened
species list, and in
the 1980s Snake River coho salmon were declared extinct.
The question is whether removing the dams will make the
difference
compared with the current system of barging and trucking
young fish around
the dams, occasionally at a cost of up to $1,000 per
fish.
The science is anything but precise. In a report last
April, the National
Marine Fisheries Service said dam removal is "more likely
than any other
hydro-system action to meet survival and recovery criteria
for the listed
species. . . ." However, the agency cautioned that "there
are plausible
sets of assumptions under which [removal] yields little
or no improvement
over transportation alone."
Native American tribes, who have relied on salmon for
thousands of years,
were guaranteed salmon by 19th century treaties through
which they gave up
millions of acres of land. They have a powerful legal
hammer if the
federal government does not act to restore the fisheries.
"We know what will not work, the status quo," said Don
Sampson, executive
director of the Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission,
which supports dam
removal.
13.09.99 : Chile: Tension rises over halted
Ralco project (Bio Bio)
Sources: el Mercurio, La Tercera-
Tension rose among Pehuenche indigenous people after construction
on the Ralco
hydroelectric dam on the upper Bio Bio valley in Region
VIII was
halted by a court order, causing some 1,500 workers hired
by
building company Besalco to lose their jobs.
The ruling was made by the sixth Santiago civil court
last week
following a lawsuit brought against the owners of the
project, the
Spanish-controlled Endesa generating company, by the
Pehuenche
Quintreman sisters in June 1997.
The sisters are among seven indigenous families opposing
the
US$500 million project, which would flood the ancestral
homeland of
70 Pehuenche families. Endesa has been negotiating
a US$20 million
relocation plan with the other families which the company
says will
help the Pehuenche overcome their impoverished state.
Eleven percent of construction work on the 570 MW dam
project, which was due to be operational by 2002, has
already been
completed. In subsequent appeals, the courts will
have to decide
whether the indigenous law or the electricity law takes
precedence
in the dispute.
On Saturday 300 indigenous people who were laid-off by
Besalco following the lawsuit, gathered in the Ralco
area to denounce
the Quintreman sisters, blaming them for the job losses.
For more Information : www.irn.org
13.09.99 : India: A New Phase of Narmada Andolan
From: Medha Patkar
TOWARDS A JUST AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - NEW PHASE
OF THE ANDOLAN BEGINS : 27, 28 SEPTEMBER 1999 COME TO THE NARMADA VALLEY
Dear Friends,
As you know, the tribal people and peasants on the banks
of the Narmada
river are fighting for the last 14 years - not
just against displacement, but injustice and
destructive development too. Not just against Sardar
Sarovar but against all
big dams in the Narmada valley and the devastation resulting
from the
development planning which excludes people and their
real concerns. The
only way to stop all this, we all have seen, is through
strong, determined and committed
struggle.
The dangers of submerging thousands today and lakhs tomorrow,
due to
increased height of the dam was seen as a challenge by
the Andolan. We
questioned the process wherein false claims of the government
misled
even the Supreme Court. We did this to increase and maintain
the dignity
of and respect for the judicial system.
People from the adivasi hamlets and villages plunged into
the
satyagraha, through out the monsoon, along with the men,
women and
youths of Nimad. While representatives of various peoples'
struggles from within the country and outside, who participated in
the satyagraha were a source of strength; writers,
journalists, students and common citizens, who came to
Jalsindhi-Dhomkedi, didn't just express solidarity but
participated
in the satyagraha in every way. Many others from different
parts of the
country strengthened the satyagraha through marches,
meetings, fasts,
demonstrations, dharnas and various other supportive
actions. The issue of the violation of human rights in the Narmada valley
was raised on the international forums as well. All of them
together have taken up the challenge to save not just
the Narmada
valley, but the country and society as well.
Hundreds faced submergence on 10th and 12th Aug. People
stood in chest
deep waters, houses fell, fields submerged- but the people
did not move.
Waters receded. People continued in the satyagraha, determined
to face a
second round of submergence. Echoes of peoples' slogans,
songs of
struggle and dreams of reconstruction of the valley
reverberated at
the satyagraha, spread across the valley.
With the failure of monsoons, the full submergence did
not take place -
Narmada continued to flow silently. While the Satyagraha
continued with
the firm resolve to face the waters, the Narmada is a
witness to our
determination to work towards bringing a fundamental
change in our
society. Another submergence did not come. Will the end
of the
monsoon bring a full stop to this struggle? No, the end
of the monsoon
satyagraha will be the beginning of a new phase of our
struggle.
The matter is sub judice. Has the Andolan by debating
democratically
the issues, obstructed the course of justice? Has Arundhati
Roy
deliberately insulted the judiciary ? Is Jal Samarpan
just a statement
or a threat? Our position is clear - we do not intend
to insult the
Court, lower its dignity or obstruct the course of justice,
but seek
justice.
It has been our position that the dam should not go up
and if it does
causing unjust submergence, we will face the waters by
Jal Samarpan. We
will not move from our lands. We have also determined
to take the
struggle to a logical end. We are committed to the efforts
of alternative development in agriculture, water conservation, health
and education in the valley. Some work has begun but much needs to be explored,
thought about and done.
We the life-loving people of the valley are being forced
into a death
trap. We have our dreams - of sustainable development.
We have been
fighting for these dreams for the last 14 years, and
will continue to do
so in the years to come. To help us carry the struggle
forward at this
juncture, we invite you to share your visions, ideas
and strength.
DO COME TO JALSINDI AND DHOMKEDI on the 27th and
28th SEPTEMBER. On the
27th we will jointly evaluate the struggle, discuss its
past and the
future.
Many of you will remember that ten years ago thousands
had gathered at
Harsud. People from several dams on the Narmada and other
river valleys,
friends from struggles and organisations from Kerala
to Delhi, Assam
to Rajasthan had gathered together in Harsud on 28th
Sept. 1989. We all had
together said - "We want development not destruction"
(Vikas Chahiye, Vinas Nahi) . It was not just a slogan but a goal and it
still is. We will take stock of the decade long
struggle against the Sardar Sarovar and discuss the past
and the future
of the struggle with all of you. We look forward to have
a dialogue with
you. We will meet for this in the lap of Narmada
- on the morning
of 27th September. Friends of the Andolan - old and the
new - will
gather to decide the future course of Andolan.
We will discuss and
debate on shaping the future of the valley through struggle
and
reconstruction. Do come, to be with us.
In solidarity,
Nandini Oza Shashank
Kela Kevalsingh Vasave Noorji Padvi
Prabhubhai Tadvi Bava Mahariya Sugan
Barant Kamlakar Borole
Rukmini Patidar Silvy
Jagannath Patidar Ashish Mandloi
Medha Patkar Vishram
Sanjay Sangvai Rehmat, Karuna
You should reach Baroda office by 27th early morning.
For reaching the
satyagraha, you will have to go to Kadipani, four hours
from Baroda
by bus. There are direct buses, or you can also go to
Kawant and change.
Our vehicle will meet you in Kadipani and take you to
the place from
where our boat will take you to the satyagraha. Please
inform Baroda
office about how many people and when they will reach.
The last bus to reach in time for the meeting on 27th
is at 9 am from
Baroda, but we will prefer if you take the earlier one
at 6.45 am. Reach
to Baroda accordingly.
For more informations see:
www.narmada.org
08.09.99 : Rotting Reservoir Makes French
Guiana Big Polluter
from REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
www.planetark.org
LONDON - Rotting vegetation in a reservoir that supplies
electricity for
Europe's Ariane space programme has made French Guiana
one of the world's
biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, a magazine said.
Scientists estimate the Petit-Saut reservoir in the tiny
French colony on the
northeastern coast of South America will produce the
equivalent of 66 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the next 15 years,
more than Britain or
France.
"Shared out among French Guiana's current population of
157,000, this amounts
to 21 tonnes of CO2 - or 5.7 tonnes of carbon - per person
each year," New
Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
"This output is more than three times the total per capita
emissions from
burning fossil fuels in France and twice that in Britain."
The French authorities flooded 365 km (227 miles) of rain
forest to create the
reservoir, which has been powering the Ariane launch
site since 1995, despite
warnings that rotting trees would generate large amounts
of methane.
French researchers led by Robert Delmas at the Laboratory
of Aerology
Observation in Toulouse measured the methane and carbon
dioxide coming out of
the reservoir during the last three years and calculated
its output until
2015.
Their findings are published in the current issue of
Global Biochemical
Cycles.
"The findings show for the first time that greenhouse
gas emissions from
tropical nations can be dominated by the generation of
supposedly clean
hydroelectricity, rather than burning fossil fuels,"
the magazine added.
According to Delmas little is known about rainforest reservoirs
where high
rates of decomposition can lead to the formation of methane,
one of the most
potent greenhouse gases.
Reservoirs could be emitting more methane and carbon dioxide
than previously
thought, he said.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
16.08.99: CLINTON ADDRESSES WATER POLLUTION
WITH NEW PLAN
WASHINGTON, DC, August 16 1999 (ENS) - Forty percent of
the surveyed
rivers, lakes and coastal waterways in the United States
are too polluted
for safe fishing and swimming. To put cleanup on a faster
track, President
Bill Clinton used his weekly radio address Saturday to
propose a new rule
that will get the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
working with the
states to develop detailed plans to make the waters safer.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-16-01.html
INTERNATIONAL NEWS 