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Row intensifies over World Commission on Dams' visit

Gujarat Narmada and Major Irrigation Projects Minister Jaynarayan Vyas today charged the World Commission on Dams with 'violating' the assurances given by its chairman last week, that the body visiting India would not "adjudicate" on the Sardar Sarovar Project.

The commission appointed by the World Bank, had recently decided to call off its Gujarat visit unless the state government officially invited it . Amid strong protests from all political parties and different sections of society, the Bharatiya Janata Party government had warned the commission members with possible arrest.

Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and Vyas met the prime minister at New Delhi and apprised him of the issue yesterday. Meanwhile, the state assembly will meet tomorrow in a special session to discuss the same.

Today, in a letter to WCD Chairman Professor Kader Asmal, Vyas recalled that he (Professor Asmal) had, in his letter dated September 4 to the chief minister assured that the commission would not under any circumstances, seek to adjudicate on specific projects and that its primary purpose was to facilitate a review of lessons learnt with the existing dams in general and to develop a more rational consensus for addressing the controversies that arise each time a dam was proposed.

Vyas said now, in the proposed programme of WCD South Asia public hearing and the list of presenters, it had been found that session-three, devoted to "large dams and alternatives in India's Narmada river valley", had been scheduled to cover the review presentation of SSP. "This has shocked me," he added.

The minister also reminded the WCD chairman that the project sought to be reviewed through public hearing (at Bhopal next week) was yet to be completed and therefore, the very objective of the commission to better understand and appreciate the issues and complexity of the history of dams and water resources management shall not be fulfilled.

"I am sure, perhaps, this programme is fixed relying upon the advice of your members from India who seem to have succeeded in bringing this controversial subject under sharp focus at the most inappropriate time, when the matter is pending adjudication before the highest court of the country and one of your commissioners and also the state where you are going to have the public hearing are party to this case", Vyas pointed out.

In another letter to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh, the minister urged that the Planning Commission should inform the WCD that this was not the appropriate time for it to visit India and the proposed visit may, therefore, be postponed. This approach was indicated to the chief minister during his meeting with the prime minister, Vyas added.

The WCD, during its six-day visit to India next week, will organise a public hearing at Bhopal on September 21 and 22 in four sessions.

On the WCD agenda, while the names of all the presenters had been given, those of the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the Maheshwar Bandh Prabhavit Sangharsha Samiti had not been clarified. Only the word "representative" had been written against these organisations.

The "representative" from NBA will speak on the 'Narmada Valley development plan: politics of displacement and destruction' while the one coming on behalf of the Samiti will speak on 'Private power: Maheshwar project in Narmada Valley'.

UNI

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