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Signatures 113 total

Page: 1, 2, 3

  1. 1
    Name: Anthony Cresap on Aug 10, 2002
    State: CA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  2. 2
    Name: Cathy Kunkel on Aug 14, 2002
    State: MD
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  3. 3
    Name: Mike Gifford on Aug 31, 2002
    State:
    Country: CA
    Comments:
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  4. 4
    Name: Sandra Dore' on Sep 6, 2002
    State: WI
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  5. 5
    Name: Grainne Gillespie on Sep 12, 2002
    State:
    Country: IE
    Comments:
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  6. 6
    Name: Abhishek Shrivastava on Oct 16, 2002
    State: PA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  7. 7
    Name: Ivana Perpar on Nov 11, 2002
    State:
    Country: CA
    Comments:
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  8. 8
    Name: Alex Thomas on Nov 17, 2002
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments: I am an Indian citizen, and I am deeply distturbed by the lack of research or regard to the specifics of the environmental or human impact of these projects.
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  9. 9
    Name: Tracy Wachtler on Nov 20, 2002
    State: NE
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  10. 10
    Name: Indian Citizen on Dec 3, 2002
    State:
    Country:
    Comments: I completely agree with this.
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  11. 11
    Name: Emily Hall on Dec 10, 2002
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  12. 12
    Name: Charles Alvarez on Dec 30, 2002
    State: NY
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  13. 13
    Name: Viviana Perez on Jan 17, 2003
    State: MA
    Country:
    Comments:
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  14. 14
    Name: Jane Zurek on Jan 28, 2003
    State:
    Country: UK
    Comments:
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  15. 15
    Name: Yi Ching Fedkenheuer on Jan 30, 2003
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  16. 16
    Name: Charles Alvarez on Feb 15, 2003
    State: NY
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  17. 17
    Name: Sarah Somers on Feb 17, 2003
    State: AR
    Country: US
    Comments: If you do not care about your people who will
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  18. 18
    Name: Ikram Khan on Feb 23, 2003
    State:
    Country: PK
    Comments:
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  19. 19
    Name: Indu Mukundan on Feb 23, 2003
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments:
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  20. 20
    Name: Jamie Olbrantz on Mar 3, 2003
    State: WI
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  21. 21
    Name: Nishit Fumakia on Mar 11, 2003
    State:
    Country: CA
    Comments:
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  22. 22
    Name: Jessica Allen on Mar 19, 2003
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  23. 23
    Name: Jamie Stutzenburg on Mar 20, 2003
    State: FL
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  24. 24
    Name: ARUN DEV on Mar 22, 2003
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments: I really thank you for making me aware of the dangers that shall be caused due to the construction of dams in narmada.It is great of you to make such a website for making other people aware of these problems.best of luck
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  25. 25
    Name: Taliaferro Greer on Apr 27, 2003
    State:
    Country:
    Comments:
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  26. 26
    Name: Lisa Lubamba on May 14, 2003
    State:
    Country: ZM
    Comments: Please do not assume that everyone in this world relies on money to survive.
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  27. 27
    Name: Bret Thiele on May 30, 2003
    State:
    Country:
    Comments:
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  28. 28
    Name: Rajendra Prasad on Jun 3, 2003
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments: send me the project data of all the major & minor dams in india.
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  29. 29
    Name: Umar Unia on Jun 9, 2003
    State: CA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  30. 30
    Name: Jeff Brandt on Jun 18, 2003
    State: CO
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  31. 31
    Name: PRITU AGARWALA on Jul 13, 2003
    State:
    Country:
    Comments:
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  32. 32
    Name: Sanjay Joshi on Aug 14, 2003
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments:
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  33. 33
    Name: Jamie Cox on Sep 8, 2003
    State: TX
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  34. 34
    Name: Sangamreddi Chandramouli on Sep 11, 2003
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments: I also accept the proposal made by the american citizen regarding the halting construction of several dams on narmada.
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  35. 35
    Name: Meeta Chaturvedi on Sep 18, 2003
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments: The price that is being paid for the ostensible benefit of development is too much & irretrievable.please donot sacrifice forests,hills,temples,homes of human & flora,fauna.
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  36. 36
    Name: Emily Allyn on Sep 20, 2003
    State: MI
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  37. 37
    Name: Alfred Beard on Sep 21, 2003
    State: IN
    Country: US
    Comments: It seems the government has little regards for the poor people who will lose their land. Payment of money is not a solution. Their land is thwir life...!
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  38. 38
    Name: Kristy Lively on Sep 22, 2003
    State: CA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  39. 39
    Name: Tom Roberts on Oct 4, 2003
    State:
    Country: UK
    Comments:
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  40. 40
    Name: Sabeen Shaiq on Oct 21, 2003
    State: CA
    Country: US
    Comments: stop the construction, it is hurting the people and the land, and there are better alternatives out there if you look.
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  41. 41
    Name: Tarun Sharma on Oct 28, 2003
    State: PA
    Country: IN
    Comments: Nice
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  42. 42
    Name: Loh Wan Hua on Nov 5, 2003
    State:
    Country: SG
    Comments:
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  43. 43
    Name: Allison Barber on Nov 10, 2003
    State: NY
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  44. 44
    Name: Mary Lawrence Hicks on Nov 24, 2003
    State: VA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  45. 45
    Name: Bryan Lucas on Dec 10, 2003
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments: All around the world countries are stuggling to develope and reach the level of sustainability. One way to attain this constant is to invite private companies to take hold of production of certain resources. By courting these multinationals, many times intentions and actual consiquences are decieving or unknown. Dams display many reasons to invest in its potential, but is it a dream or is it a nightmare Are Dams really India's savior The Narmada river is the fifth largest river in India. It is 1,312 kilometers in length, and stretches from Amarkantak and empties into the gulf of Cambay. This river is also known as the "life line" because of the many things it provides. To use this river as a resource, it is undergoing many developmental changes. The Shri Masheshwar Hydel Project has set up a series of dams to harness its potentials of irrigation, power generation, and providing water for industries and domestic requirements.(S. Kumar,The Narmada) The Maheshwar Hydel Electric Project (MHEP) has been around from the sixties to present. It started as a notion from the Narmada Basin Development Plan, where it was then transferred to the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board (MPEB) in 1989, after it had aquired its land from the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA). MPEB obtained all the clearances from Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and began basic prerequisite work for the major project. Since then, through a process of open bidding, S. Kumars took over to execute and operate this massive proposal.(S. Kumar,Genesis) The 400 MW Maheshwar Hydro Power Project is being developed at Mandaleshwar, Dist. West Nimar, 108 km south west of Indore, M.P. The Project involves generation of power by using the natural flow of Narmada River and without diverting the course of the river. This project consists of three thousand two hundred dams (thirty big dams, one hundred thirty five medium dams and the rest small). The sites where these damn have and will be built or by recommendation of the Central Water Commition. It also boasts that due to the topography of the Maheshwar, it is idealy suited for dams to be built. "It will involve minimal submergence. The Maheshwar power project will produce invaluable peaking power for the western grid of the country." Says Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Ltd., which is an independently and professionally run organisation promoted by the S. Kumar's. S. Kumar gives highlights and benefits: Project Highlights: -The only Private Power Project in power sector in Madhya Pradesh at an advanced stage of implementation. -The Project is eco-friendly as it uses the renewable source of energy, water. -It is a run-of-the-river project and will not disturb natural flow of water. -It accounts for least submergence area/MW amongst all the hydro projects coming up in Madhya-Pradesh . -Competitive capital cost - Rs.2,233-crs. -Maximum indigenous suppliers - minimum exposure to foreign funds. -A 35-year Power Purchase Agreement executed with MPEB. -The only Independent Power Project (IPP) in Madhya Pradesh with an escrow agreement executed with MPEB. -The Project offers one of the most liberal and a progressive Rehabilitation & Resettlement package. Project Benefits: -It is the first major development in Western Nimar. -Cost-effective, renewable, non-polluting and eco-friendly source of energy. -Will reduce the peaking power shortage of the state by almost 25%. -Will reduce the voltage fluctuation and frequent power shedding problem in the region. -Increase in the water table in the surrounding areas saving about 43 lacs units of electric power annually (electricity used for drawing water from below ground level). Will assure availability of water and electricity to the industrial areas of Indore and Dewas. -Liberal progressive Rehabilitation and Resettlement package. -Will substantially improve the quality of life of the local people and radically enhance the economic profile of 70% of the local population. -Increase in agricultural and fisheries industry output. -Agro-based and food processing. -Industry will get a boost . -Will lead to the Development of the local industries. -Scope for future opportunities in tourism. -Over all development of the sate!(S. Kumars,The Project) The progress of this company is up to 88% of land land is required. 80% of the total private land coming under submergence already attained or is in various stages of acquisition. For the rehabilitation sites, land for seven villages are already acquired and construction is underway, along with other lands that are under close eye for future sites. On the actual contruction of the damn, unloading a storage bays are complete along with the projection wall, cofferdam, staff housing and approaching roads. There is also substantial progress made with the power house, power damn, service bay, and spillways.(S. Kumars,The Project) The contractors working on the engineering of the dam are Design and Engineering Consultants (CES) of New Dehli, and Harza Engineering Corporationn of the U.S.A., are construction cunsultants. For the actual contructions, Hydro Mechanical equipment of Alstom, Portugal, Electro Mechanicalmechanical equipment of the Bharat Heavy Eletricals Limited (BHEL) which is ranked among the major power plant equipment suppliers in the world as one of the largest exporters of engineering products & services from India, and SEW Constructions and Prasad & Co. Hyderabad. (S. Kumars,The Project)(BHEL) MHEP and S. Kumar says that the project will only submerge 13 villages and affect 9 others partially. They say that "an effective resettlement and successful rehabilitation of the affected population is not just mandatory as per the law, but a matter of personal commitment for the Promoters of the Project." The rehabilitation and resetlement plan (which is run by the R&R commitee) teams up with public representatives such as the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to produce a compensation package. Compensation package: - "land for land" and monetary compensation, where the oustees so desire. -Compensation of land is also extended to the encroachers. -5400 Sq. ft free-of-cost plots shall be given to the owner. -Each unmarried daughter and adult son is entitled for an individual plot. -Compensation for earlier houses. -Free transportation of belongings to relocated sites will be provided. -New rehabilitation sites are between 1 and 7 Kms from the existing villages.(S. Kumars,The Project) A Community Developement Program was enstated to ensure the quality of life for the affected population. "The aim is to ensure a sustained livelihood for the people by imparting skills and generating awareness among them," says S. Kumars. Three rehabilitation sites have been completed in Jalud, Bahegaon, and Pitamli, and 4 other villages are in the making.(S. Kumars,The Project) This major project is in the works with an eco-friendly way of making hydroelectric power, and delivering water to the needy. It boasts of having the best resettlement package and industrailizing the state with the best developement rates. But things aren't always as good as they seem. . .(S. Kumars) In march of 2000, President Bill Clinton was ushered into New Delhi. During this visit, contracts for an estimated three billion dollars were signed. A memorandum of intent was signed by Ogden Energy Group which specializes in operating garbage incinerators in the U.S.. This was also signed by S. Kumars which is an Indian textile company that manufactures "suiting blends." The intent was not to produce a "suit incinerator," nor a "garbage blend." They were both coming together to invest in hydroelectric dams (note that neither of these companies have ever built or operated a large damn before.) This was no little dam being built, this dam produces four hundred megawatts. The name of this enourmous project is Shri Maheshwar Hydel Project. It is being promoted by the S. Kumars group as part of the Narmada Valley Development Project.(Roy, 37) This will change the Narmada River and forty one tributaries into a series of step reservations. It will also change the ecology of the entire river basin, affect the lives of twenty five million people in the valley, submerge four thousand square kilometers of old growth, deciduous forest, hundreds of temples, and well known archeological sites dating back to the paleolithic age. Along the Narmada River, four major damns are being built, and only one is finished. Most of the dams on the river are all governmental. The Maheshwar Dam is said to be the first major private dam, but all use foreign funding.(Roy,39) Arundhati Roy was the first Indian citizen to win the booker prize. She is in her late thirties and lives in New Dehli. She comes from a long line of activism in her family as her mom Mary Roy fought against the Christian inheritance law, winning a landmark Supreme Court verdict that granted Christian women in Kerala the right to their parent's property. Since then Arundhati has a series of collabrative writtings ranging from The God of Small Things, which, told from a child's prespective, deals with human emotion and behavior in association with polotics, to Power Politics, where she challenges "experts" and speaks out against urgent issues such as globalization of the world economy, privitization of India's water supply by U.S.-based energy companies, the construction of monumental dams, and retaliation on the United States' actions after Spetember 11, 2001.(A.Roy.Miena) In Power Politics, a section named The Reincarnation of Rumpelstilskin, Roy uses this gnome as a metaphor to explain to us the horrible intent of those in power. She says, Rumpelstilskin is no longer a gnome, but white logic, he is money, the king of everything, he is a notion (gnotion). He persuades that he is all that is left, the only salvation. He has a bank account for a heart, television eyes and a newspaper nose in which to see only that what he wants you to see. He lives in the realm of raw capital, his conquests include the imerging markets, and his prayers at night are that of profit.(Roy,36) On the same day that President Clinton came to New Dehli to sign contracts, Roy says that any Indian citizen with even a modicum of self-respect would be so ashamed that they should stay in bed that day. In Holland, the World Water Forum was held at The Hogue. Four thousand five hundred bankers, business men, government ministers, policy writters, engineers, economists, and so that the "other side" was represented, a handfull of activists, indigenous dance troupes, impoverished street theater groups, and hey, even a dozen young girls dressed up as inflatable silver faucets gathered to discuss the future of the world's water. All the speaches presented were generously prepared with phrases such as women's empowerment, people's participation, and deepening democracy. In the end the soul purpose was for the privitization of water.(Roy,40) They, being privatizing parties, stated that drinking water is a basic human right and that all people should have access to it. During the the World Water Forum one American panelist said "God gave us rivers, but he didn't put in the delivery system." They want to do this by setting up a market value for water by selling it for its "true price." The only thing is, one billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water, and as we all know, when there is a scarcity of a product in the market, it then becomes more expensive. Arudhati then says that "there is a difference between valuing water and putting a market value on water. No one values water more than a village woman who has to walk miles to fetch it. No one values it less than urban folk who pay for it to flow endlessly at the turn of a tap."(Roy,41) Privatization means the transfer of productive public assets from the state (government) to a private companies. These assets include natural resources such as land, air and water. The state is to hold these in trust for the people that live there, the citizens. Seven hundred million people live in rural areas and their lives depend on natural resources. Now privatizing, these will be taken away and sold off to private companies. Roy asks the question "what happens when we privatize something as essential to human survival as water."(Roy,44) Does this mean only the ones that can scrounge up the mula and pay "market price" are entitled to it Roy then turns back to her metaphor Rumpelstilskin. These companies, most of the time foreign, say they want to make a better future for the people of the country. They say that they want to help develope infrastructure to a sustainable level. But is that really what they are doing Jack Welch who is the CEO of General Electric spoke on Indian TV saying "I beg and pray that the Indian government to improve infrastructure." Then he also added " Don't do it for GE's sake, do it for yourselves." He was saying that this is the only way to bring India up to par with other countries or they will be left behind in the revolution of digital networking.(Roy,45) This sounds a lot like Rumpelstilskin claiming that he is the only salvation to the peoples problems. If you read through the lines Arundhati say "What he meant of course was: You are a market of one billion customers. If you don't buy our equipment, we will miss the next revolution." Amung his costomers, three hundred million are illiterate and live without even one square meal a day and two hundred million do not have access you safe drinking water. (Roy,46) It is doubtfull that "digital framework" is one their minds. The United States is the largest foreign investor in the power sector thus explaining the visit by the president. Roy depicts this as a third world country selling its natural resourses for personal profit as it pleads at the idea that it is unable of reformation. BHEL, as previously stated, manufactured and exported world-class power equipment. But now BHEL is being forced into joint ventures with GE and Seimens because of governmental choices.(Roy,47) Theft of power was happenig on an alarming rate. Overall figure of loss and deficit in the power sector was 7.86 billion U.S. Dollars. India's transmission and distribution (T&D) went down thirty five and forty percent. This puts India at the top of the list with the worst (T&D) losses in the world. The Maheshwar Dam can be used as an example. Years ago, it was a power surplus state. Now industrial demand is down thirty percent, while production has increased from three thousand, eight hundred and thirteen megawatts to four thousand and twenty five megawatts. The State Electricity Board (SEB) shows a loss of two hundred and fifty five million U.S. Dollars. An inpection was done and found that seventy percent of industrialists in the state are stealing electricity.(Roy,48,49) Now these private companies and governments are setting up "political compulsions" in order to find a happy medium between what the market demands and what the people can afford. Soon the government will be cut loose of this choice and the democracy and the vote of the common people will have no say in the price of goods. In 1999, the government of Bolivia privatized the public water supply system in the city of Cochambaba by inviting in, and signing of a forty year lease with Betchel, a giant U.Ss engineering Firm. The next day Betchel raised the price of water and all hell broke loose. Thousand of people simply could not afford it. Riots began as people had no other alternatives. Eventually after many people died Betchel was forced out. Now Betchel is trying to extract a twelve million dollar exit payment from the Bolivian government for loss of futur profits. (Roy,44) Also, future investors are being scared away(but that may be a good thing. . .). The international dam industry is worth thirty two to forty six billion dollars. In most first world countries dams are being destroyed while dams in third world countries dams are a salvation Forty percent of all the big damns in the world have been and or are being built in India. It has being a part of Indian culture, huge, wet, cement flags. These are supposed to deliver India from hunger and poverty. Ninety percent of the big damns are for purposes or irrigation and advertise as India's "food security." One of the chapers in the study of World Commision of Dams Report says that the contribution to India's food and grain produce is less than ten percent.(Roy,65,66) Before the president's visit, the Indian Government lifted import restrictions on fourteen hundred commodities such as milk, grain, sugar, and cotton. That ten percent boost from the damns irrigation equals out to twenty million tons. The Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies says that ten percent of India's total food grain produce every year is spoiled or eaten by rats. Arundhati then goes on to deduce in a sarcastic manor, "India must be the only country in the world that builds dams, uproots millions of people, and submerges thousands of acres of forests in order to feed rats."(Roy,38,66) It is becoming all to popular, a strange familiarity. This is popping up all over the world. Developing countries say they are the on way to developement (salvation), but it is wrapped up in pretty paper with a pretty bow to look like a choice, but in reality they have no choice. The country invites multinationals in on huge Power Purchase Agreements. Roy makes a clear associating that "Indian industrialists who have been rooting for them all along end up like vultures on a carcass that get chased off by a visiting hyena." But who can blame these privateers, there is no real risk involved due to Export Credit Agencies (ECA).(Roy,52,53) ECAs are complicated. In one form or another they are an insurance. An ECA insures private companies operating in economically unstable foregin countries against commercial and political risks. So the company has a pillow to rest its head on called an export credit quarantee. Then if a situation does arise where the ECA must pay off its client, its own government pays the ECA and recovers its money by adding it to bilateral debt owed by the importing country, which even furthermore screws over the common people. To put it in easier terms, A company can move into your country and own a natural resource, and if for some reason things get screwy, you'll end up paying for it.(Odious Debts) This makes maga-game (big dams, mines, armaments, power plants, public water supply, telecommunication, the management and dissemination or knowledge, biodiversity, and the industrial infrastructure that supports all of this) that displaces and impoverishes large amounts of people that much easier to finance.(Roy,62) Both the companies inloved and the government can and hide behind ECAs to avoid human rights violations and evironmental quidelines. They can literally do what ever they want without running the risk of loosing money. Dams alone bring human and evironmental costs. Roy extrapolated that over the past fifty years, dams in India have displaced thirty three million people. Economists and planners laughed at her and told her that the numbers she came up with were outrageous. India's Sceretary for Rural Developemnet put the figure at forty million and rising. More than three million acres of land have been submerged. Along with this it destroyed ecosytems and left rivers and reserviors defunct. This resulted in endangered wildlife, dissapearing biodiversity, and twenty four million acres of agricultural land that is now water logged and saline.(Roy,69) They say it is the price for national development. India is putting their faith into big dams with no proof of its developemental promises. In 1990 the Bargi Dam was completed. The final product was a price tag ten times more than that predicted. It also submerged three times more land, and to save the cost of doing detailed surveying, to make the full reservior level the government closed the sluice gates one monsoon which filled the reservior. It ended up flooding the country side sending families along with all their belongings up the hillsides. Extra land was flooded along with twenty six government resettlement colonies (which had house plots but no agricultural land). Some received cash compensation while many others died of starvation. In the end the Bargi dam irrigates only five percent of what it said it would, and yet while this is happening the Narmada Sagar Dam, Maheshwar Dam, and the most contraversial dam in hostory, the Sardar Sarovar, are still being built.(Roy,74)(Narmada) When are we going to learn from our past The Maheshwar Dam was estimated to cost ninty nine million U.S. dollars. Presently the price stands at four hundred sixty seven million. In the beginning eighty percent of the money was to be raised by foreign investors such as Betchel in 1997, Pacgen in 1998 of the U.S., VEW, Seimens, and HypoVereinsbank of Germany in 2000, and in the end Ogden group of the U.S.. Since then all investors have left because of insufficient resettlement plans. In a sense the S. Kumars could care less. They have an escrow clause in their contract that guarantees them first call on government funds for the next thirty five years. Construction continues. (Lyla Bavadam) We come to a final saying: if something is to good to be true then it probably is. Dams, under appropriate circumstances, can pose as a viable energy source and can quite possibly deliver water to everyone with the right framework. But there seems to be a cycle or a downward spiral effect that these developing countries get caught up in then can't get themselves out. Countries like India are being exploited when they are at their most vulnerable stage, developement. The ever long stuggle to get to sustainablity leaves them selling out to foreign investors who could care less about the natives and their land. We can only hope that, even under its rough situation, India (primarily its government) can take matters into their own hands and fight independently in a globalized economy.
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  46. 46
    Name: Akshay Shah on Dec 11, 2003
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments:
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  47. 47
    Name: Gaby Hoffmann on Dec 21, 2003
    State:
    Country:
    Comments:
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  48. 48
    Name: Allison Barber on Dec 22, 2003
    State: MA
    Country: US
    Comments:
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  49. 49
    Name: Takuji Soyama on Jan 6, 2004
    State:
    Country:
    Comments:
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  50. 50
    Name: Nikhil Gadgil on Jan 16, 2004
    State:
    Country: IN
    Comments: this is good cause of supporting the lives of many people and i support it
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