In response to the Independent Review Team's findings released
last June 20th, the World Bank sent a 13 member mission to India
in July. The team was headed by Ms Pamela Cox. They were
reportedly extremely secretive about their schedule and were not
willing to meet with anybody except representatives of the Indian
Government.
Everywhere the team travelled they were confronted by masses of
villagers asking them to go back and stating that the Bank should
first stop any loans before sending yet another mission.
Meanwhile, on July 13th, forest guards and police went to the
village of Kalibel to evict tribals from cultivating land there to
prepare for the oustees of the Sardar Sarovar. When the tribals
protested police started beating them and opened fire. The result
was that one tribal woman was shot dead and others were left
injured.
Executive Directors at the World Bank are scheduled to meet at the
end of August to decide on what action to take on the SSP. IT IS
VITAL TO PRESSURE THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS AT THIS TIME. THE
AUSTRALIAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HAS BEEN VERY SLOW IN RESPONDING TO
RECENT LETTERS. PLEASE FAX HIM IMMEDIATELY ON 0015 1 202 477 2007.
OTHERWISE WRITE TO HIM AT THE WORLD BANK. PLEASE SEND COPIES TO
ROBIN CASSON - AIDAB - PO BOX 887, CANBERRA, ACT 2601
KEN WALLER - TREASURY - PARKES PLACE, CANBERRA, ACT, 2600
JOHN KERIN - MINISTER FOR TRADE AND OVERSEAS AID, PARLIAMENT
HOUSE, CANBERRA.
The following letter can by used as a guideline.
****************************
Mr John Cosgrove, Executive Director, Australia. The World Bank,
1818 H St, NW 20433, Washington DC
USA.
4th August, 1992.
Dear Mr Cosgrove,
RE: SARDAR SAROVAR PROJECT - A)POST INDEPENDENT REVIEW TEAM
MISSION AND B) KILLING OF TRIBAL WOMAN AT TALODA.
I wrote to you on 2nd July, expressing concerns regarding the
Sardar Sarovar Projects (SSP) in India. I had asked you to keep me
informed as to what initiatives Australia was taking to see that
the recommendations outlined in the Morse report were acted upon.
Non-government organizations and other concerned parties both
in Australia and internationally, believe the findings and
recommendations of the Independent Review team are a serious
indictment of the SSP and bring into question the viability of the
benefits and underlying assumptions of the project. As the report
stated, "assertions have been substituted for analysis".
The Independent Review team had found that the projects under
Sardar Sarovar were flawed and the social and environmental
impacts were neither fully or thoroughly assessed. However, the
Bank has not decided to withdraw from the project pending a
comprehensive and complete review of the social and environmental
aspects of the project.Instead, it decided to send yet another
mission to reappraise the situation.
From the peoples point of view, this mission was uncalled
for. The people in the Valley have pledged to resist any attempts
made to undermine the recommendations of the Morse Committee. The
sending of another mission only caused further rifts between
affected people and the Bank.
For a start, it is our understanding that the team had flatly
refused to talk with representatives of peoples organizations who
had travelled great distances to Baroda to meet the mission. It
was not even on the team's agenda to meet with the Narmada Bachao
Andolan (NBA), the organization which represents over 80% of the
affected people. Ms Pamela Cox, head of the mission, stated to
representatives of NBA that as lenders to the project, they were
interested only in meeting the Indian government. Although an
invitation was finally extended to meet with representatives of
NBA on July 20th, no prior contact, consultation or scheduling was
made before the Mission commenced its research.
Oustees staged a demonstration in front of the hotel where
team members were staying. Placards read, "World Bank, go home."
People believe that the mission was an attempt to white wash the
impact made by the Morse Committee which asked the Bank to
withdraw from the project while reassessing various aspects.
Further misery in the Narmada Valley has occurred with the
recent killing of a tribal woman at Kalibel village in
Maharashtra. Forest personnel fired on a group of people who they
claim to be illegal encroachers. The shooting took place in the
Taloda forest range which has been earmarked for resettlement of
oustees of the SSP. Although the tribals have been cultivating the
land for several generations they are now being forced off to make
way for the oustees of SSP. Reports from India indicate that the
land was being cleared to give the visiting World Bank team the
impression that the area is ready for resettlement of the
oustees.
We believe that you may have recently received a letter from
the Narmada Bachao Andolan outlining reasons why the Bank should
withdraw from the project and giving an update of the situation in
the valley. We also believe that both you and the former Alternate
Director, Mr Carling, have been kept very well informed of the
appalling situation in the Valley for a number of years. As you
can see clearly from all the reports, the situation is continuing
to worsen. Demonstrations have grown to huge proportions, people
are being killed, support for the anti-dam movement has spread
across a large cross-section of the society and now the
Independent Review Team has found the SSP flawed.
We therefore ask you to play a leading role in ensuring that
the Bank management not only acknowledges the findings but also
acts upon the recommendations of the Independent Review Team which
were released in June. We hope that you will object also to the
continual stream of Bank missions to reappraise the situation when
the situation has been reappraised many times. Instead, we need to
see some concrete action taken by the Bank.
We call upon you to take an active stand on this issue. We
also would greatly appreciate a detailed reply concerning your
actions at the earliest opportunity. Without knowledge on how you
are acting on this crucial and controversial issue, the Australian
public has no clear idea as to what stand our government is taking
to ensure humane and environmentally sound development.
Looking forward to hearing your comments in the near future,
Yours sincerely,
Ms Carol Sherman Director MDB
Campaign.