AN OPEN CHALLENGE TO SARDAR SAROVAR DAM ENGINEERS
Click here to support this petition
http://petitions.aidindia.org/narmada_petition/
Withdraw statement that 3.42 crore units electricity will be produced
daily by SSP dam.
Or sign a legally enforceable bond to pay the shortfall below Rs.
2500 crore every year.
==// Open Letter from Faculty, Scientists, Engineers and other
professionals //==
0. Executive Summary
http://petitions.aidindia.org/narmada_petition/executive.php
0. Facts and Fiction: Power Generation in Sardar Sarovar Project
http://petitions.aidindia.org/narmada_petition/factsfiction.php
===//Open Letter from Faculty, Scientists, Engineers and other
professionals //==
We the undersigned science and engineering faculty, working
professionals and graduates from universities across the world take a
strong exception to the misuse of science for promoting human rights
violation. The builders of the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat, India
are advertising unrealizable benefits in terms of power and irrigation
and luring their nation to increase the dam's height to 121.9 mts.
despite the fact that 35,000 families are still living in the
submergence zone without rehabilitation.
On April 2 2006 the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) engineers stated
emphatically in a major newspaper that 3.4 crore units of electricity
valued at Rs. 7 crore will be generated every day once the SSP dam's
height is increased to 121.9 mts [Indian Express Article]. Annually
this would amount to Rs. 2500 crores of electricity.
It can be easily demonstrated that this claim is false and involves
gross misuse of data. It is not possible to generate electricity daily
worth anywhere close to 3.4 crore units or Rs. 7 crores from the SSP.
We have provided references from the Narmada Control Authority web
site that includes a table of the expected electricity generation as
projected by the "Central Electricity Authority" of India as well as
of independent energy experts all of whom project substantially lesser
power. The facts regarding the power generation of SSP, and the
basis for our stand are explained in the attached note "Facts and
Fiction". For example, in 2004, the Chief Engineer (NVDA) claimed that
M.P. state would get 370 MW of power, but in the next 20 months, the
state received only an average of 85 MW. We are compelled to believe
that the dam engineers know very well too that their statements are
false, and this amounts to serious deception of the public. In a
country like India that is short on energy, holding such a patently
false oasis of hope is as cruel as saying that people are
rehabilitated when they aren't.
It is very important to understand the burning context for this false
propaganda. On March 15, 2005, India's Supreme Court took note of the
lagging rehabilitation and ordered halt to further construction until
each and every affected family was rehabilitated as per the norms of
Narmada Tribunal Award. However, in March 2006, without meeting those
norms, and despite objections from the Union Minister for Water
Resources, the dam construction has resumed.
Hundreds of affected families are protesting in the national capital
New Delhi facing callous arrests. Renowned social activist Medha
Patkar and two affected people from the Narmada villages have started
an indefinite fast (satyagraha) to uphold the truth. Today is Day Six
of the fast, and the health of the activists including Medha Patkar is
in peril.
While this Gandhian struggle for rights is on, we scientists,
engineers and working professionals are aghast that in a national
newspaper in India, the dam engineers are highlighting false
information to sway the public from supporting the struggle. It is
extremely important in the 21st century as we try and become a
developed nation, that we set high standards for both scientific
achievement and human rights. The issue is not only one of the
displaced people but also whether science can be misused without being
challenged by other scientists. We will not allow this to happen.
Medha Patkar and others are on an indefinite fast, backing what they
are saying with actual personal commitment. What personal commitment
can we expect from the Sardar Sarovar engineers who have said that the
SSP will generate Rs. 7 crore a day or Rs. 2500 crore of electricity a
year??
We challenge them to sign a bond with the displaced families of the
Narmada valley and citizens of India, that they will personally make
up the loss of any amount that is short of Rs. 2500 crore of
electricity generated each year. This money should be divided into
three parts -- one part should go to the displaced families equally,
the other to every citizen of India whom the engineers have sought to
mislead and the final part should go to human rights movements of the
world. We estimate the loss to be about Rs. 1500-2000 crores a year in
the initial years before the canal network is completed and rising to
Rs. 2300 crores a year once all the waters are diverted for irrigation
purposes to the canals of the Narmada river valley projects.
Can the Sardar Sarovar engineers sign the bond? We challenge them to.
Or they should take back the false promises, issue a public apology
and stop construction of the dam. We would be delighted if they joined
the fast of the affected people, whose purpose is to uphold the truth.
--
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--
Anivar Aravind
Global Alternate Information Applications(GAIA)
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