Narmada Damned!

Nearly 8000 people affected by the Maheshwar Hydro-Electric project being built on the river Narmada in Madhya Pradesh marched in the nearby town of Mandleshwar. The march was in celebration of the withdrawal of US power utility Ogden from this destructive Project and against the forces of privatisation and globalisation that put the quest for corporate profits over survival concerns.

At the end of the meeting, the affected people took a resolve to fight and stop not only the immediate destruction being wrought by the Maheshwar project but also the pauperisation and the slavery that is being brought into the country in the name of globalisation. The withdrawal of Ogden has confirmed the truth of the issues being raised by the Andolan as well as the strength of the people’s struggle. Mangat Verma from the first dam affected village said the government seems bent on continuing with the Project at any cost. He said that if the government would not stop this destruction, the people would stop it.