Over the last two years, thousands of farmers whose lives and livelihoods will be destroyed by the Maheshwar Dam have occupied the dam site ten times, barricaded all roads leading to the dam for three months, and held mass demonstrations and hunger strikes opposing the dam. Electricity generated by the dam is projected to cost four to five times more than current electricity produced by Madhya Pradesh state. The Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board, which is supposed to purchase power from the project, is on the verge of bankruptcy and is likely to default on its payments. Due to the project's serious financial risks and intense opposition from local people and Indian and international environmental and human rights groups, U.S. power utility PacifiCorp backed out of the project in 1998, and German utilities Bayernwerk and VEW Energie pulled out in April 1999. Ogden's Claim Families affected by the dam will be compensated for their homes and land.
Land is available for resettlement.
The report also found that claims of private lands identified for resettlement were fictitious. The legal framework governing resettlement in MP clearly stipulates that land lost to submergence must be compensated by grants of new lands. As of today, project authorities have not made a single person an offer of cultivable land. Instead, project authorities have tried to intimidate people to accept cash compensation by not offering them any land and committing various illegal acts like dumping stone on people's land and seizing lands arbitrarily. The new resettlement villages will have new roads, schools, medical, sanitation and drinking water facilities and households will have electrical connections.