From: mmurali@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg (Man from Mohenjo Daro)
Subject: Re: NARMADA - WB defers decision till ...
Organization: Lion City
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 01:48:32 GMT

Here is a posting from INDIA-D on the Narmada issue.
Looks like the WB decision runs contrary to all the 
activities to preserve the environment such as the
resolutions at the World Earth Summit etc.



Date: 12 Oct 92 13:21:24 EDT
From: REGIS@s35.prime.com
Subject: for INDIA-D and INDIA-L : please send to all members, thanx!
 
"URGENT : Narmada Issue: YOUR IMMEDIDATE RESPONSE REQUESTED"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Friends, YOUR action is needed IMMEDIATELY!!!!!
 
 JUST TYPE IN A LINE ON-LINE TO US.
 
 The World Bank has deferred decision of financing of the SARDAR SAROVAR DAM
 project till October 16th. This project will submerge tens of thousands of
 acres of forests and farms, destroy fisheries, increase disease, and force
 more than 100,000 tribal and rural people off their land!
 
 Some of us concerned have trie to co-ordinate efforts. We are also trying to
 collect email signatures opposing the financing of this DISASTROUS project.
         ****************
 We will be collecting these signatures till Wednesday 14th of October. We
 will then send copies to :
 
 1) the World Bank President, Mr Lewis Preston
 2) the Executive Director of the World Bank for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
    Mr J.S. Baijal.
 
 3) the executive directors of
 
        E. Patrick Coady  (US);
        Yasuyuki Kawahara (japan)
        Fritz Fischer     (Germany)
        David Peretz      (usa).
 
    All of them can be reached at the WB's address.
 
    Putting pressure on all is important because according to the IRN
    report, prob. "the delay has been introduced so that directors who
    intended to vote against the project can be persuaded to change
    their minds."
 
 4) EDF/ IRN - the groups here that are lobbying the WB. They
    can follow up on these signatures.
*********************   What can YOU do to help??   ********************
 1) Send a mail to :
                     sign-narmada@nacho.cs.wisc.edu
    with your NAME and ADDRESS.
 
 2) Pass this message along to friends and ask them to sign up!
 
  Of course if you could also write to the WB directly,
          there would be nothing like that !
  The petitions need to go to
  Mr.Lewis T. Preston,
  President, The World Bank,
  1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC - 20433.
 
 The problems with the Narmada project (A gist)
 ----------------------------------------------
 (If you would like more info, please contact any of the people at the end
 of the list!)
 
1. The independant commission set up by the WB (the Morse committee) has
   found that the project is "flawed, the resettlement and rehabilitiation
   are impossible under the prevailing circumstances and the environmental
   impacts are not properly  considered."
2. The project itself drowns 85,000 hectares, while the afforestation grant
   is only for 3,000 hectares of forests.
3. Studies show that as of now it will silt in 15 years, making it useless then.
4. No provision for wildlife relocation.
5. A large tribal population will have to be relocated. Very little planning
   has been done so far.
6. The Morse committee also says that the irrigation benefits are exaggerated.
7. The effectiveness of irrigation projects in high rainfall areas is
   doubtful. 57% of the Narmada basin is clay soil with waterlogging
   problems. The existing dams have only worsened this.
8. The committe also states that the threat of waterborne diseases is not
   properly assessed. Malaria cases have already risen drastically.
9. There are alternatives to big dams -
    (a)Groundwater Development - by developing catchment areas.
    (b)Mini and Micro hydel projects - suitable for remote places, where
                        transmission losses would be high.
    (c)Minor Irrigation schemes.
   WB has the history of supplying aid for large projects without first
   judging if it is suited for the region under consideration.
10. The planning commission has suggested that stress should rather be placed
   on the better management of existing projects. In 1983, of 215 major and 916
 medium
   irrigation projects taken up since 1951, 176 major and 446 medium
   projects were still to be completed.
11. A realistic cost benefit analysis of the project needs to be done,
   taking into account the cost of environmental damage in terms of
   recurring loss of wood, of loss of flora having medicinal value,
   ecological problems and human rehabilitation issues, health problems etc.
 
( in case you need more information/ want to get more actively
  involved, lease get in touch with any of us. )
some of us who are involved are -
adve@cs.wisc.edu                              Vikram Adve
aparna@mipos2.intel.com                       Aparna Krishnan
bhattach@eecs.umich.edu                       Sayan Bhattachacharya
budaraju@cae.wisc.edu                         Srinivas Budaraju
ddsharma@cs.tamu.edu                          Debendra Das Sharma
gchacko@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu             George Chacko
gujar@ie.engr.wisc.edu                        Ravi
jagan@ctr.columbia.edu                        S.V. Jagannnath
kkb@utah.univel.com                           Kalyan Banerjee
rajesh@phakt.usc.edu                          Rajesh Krishnan
rajesh@quince.wpi.edu                         Rajesh Raman
regis@s35.prime.com                           Charles Regis
suchitra@sloth.astro.unc.edu                  Suchitra Balachandran
uk00006@ukpr.uky.edu                          Bindu Mohanty
venkat@smsc.sony.com                          Venkat, Sujatha
 
-- 
=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o= 
 Murali Damodaran, Sch. of MPE    <> Internet: mmurali@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg     
 Nanyang Technological University <> Bitnet  : mdamodaran@ntuvax           
 Nanyang Avenue, SINGAPORE 2263   <> Phone : 65-799-5599  Fax: 65-791-1859 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian