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Gujarat assembly urges Centre not to allow dams review panel into India

The Gujarat Vidhan Sabha today unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre not to permit the World Bank-appointed World Commission on Dams in India due to its ''anti-Third World'' stand, and maintained that exercise was meant to influence the Supreme Court ruling on the issue in the near future.

The resolution was passed at the end of a one-day special ''historic'' session of the assembly against the backdrop of the commission cancelling its Gujarat leg of the visit next week. The four-member Rashtriya Janata Party group, incidentally, boycotted the meet, saying it was a ''financial burden'' on the state after cancellation of the visit.

Moving a three-page resolution, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel told the assembly that ''a self-styled group called World Commission on Dams'' was coming to India ''ostensibly to do an exercise on big dams and their influence on development'', with two of its 12 members -- L C Jain and Medha Patkar -- having an anti-big dam stand -- and hold a public hearing at Bhopal on September 21 and 22.

Describing the commission as ''merely a small group of anti-dam people having no legal authority'', Patel stated that it was only aimed at creating obstacles in the process of development. The commission had ''motivated interests'' which was clear from its programme to review the projects in the Narmada Valley, specially the Sardar Sarovar dam, and this injustice had ''deeply hurt'' the people of Gujarat, he added.

He said although the commission, in its terms of reference, had claimed to review the SSP, now nearing completion, it was a ''big conspiracy'' to deny the people their rights. The SSP was not even among the 50 mega-dams of the world, but the commission still wanted to review it in the ''guise'' of its claims.

Patel said it was strange that Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar, who was a party in the case pending before the apex court, was a member of the commission. This was against the principle of natural justice. In fact, the commission's visit amounted to the ''contempt of court'', he added.

Charging the commission with ''ulterior motives'', the chief minister strongly denounced what he called ''unpardonable foreign interference'' in the sovereignty of the state and the country. The state government had taken up the matter right up to the level of the prime minister and urged the Centre to ensure that the ''so-called commission'' did not create any obstacles on the Narmada issue in future also.

Saying that the commission's original itinerary included only Delhi and Bhopal, and that Gujarat was included later, Patel said if at all it came, the state government would take ''measures it deemed fit to maintain law and order in view of public outrage over the issue''. The WCD was issuing contradictory statements. Earlier also, the state government had turned down the strings attached to the Morse Commission which came to the state at the behest of the World Bank some years ago, he said.

Declaring Gujarat's resolve to complete the SSP at any cost and with own resources, the chief minister regretted that the dam's opponents continued to make efforts to scuttle the project. ''Why does not the commission go to other places in India and other countries where many such dams are coming up?'' he asked.

The chief minister pointed out that the state had convinced the prime minister on the issue and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had directed the Planning Commission deputy chairman, Jaswant Singh, to ask the WCD to cancel the visit.

UNI

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