Activists urge PM not to allow lifting of stop-work order

Several social activists on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to allow lifting of the stop-work order issued by the Environment Ministry on Maheshwar dam in Madhya Pradesh till rehabilitation of the oustees is completed.

Several social activists on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to allow lifting of the stop-work order issued by the Environment Ministry on Maheshwar dam in Madhya Pradesh till rehabilitation of the oustees is completed.

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At a press conference here, they claimed that former MP chief minister Digvijaya Singh and incumbent Shivraj Singh Chauhan have approached the PMO for review of the suspension order issued in April last year by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and activists of NGO Narmada Bachao Andolan termed the power project as "unviable". They also insisted that rehabilitation and resettlement (R and R) of the 70,000 people to be affected by the dam has not progressed at all in the last one year and only 10 per cent R and R work has been accomplished.

They accused the project proponent of indulging in "irregularities" and said despite that money from public financial institutions have been provided to it. The project cost has inflated from Rs 400 crore to about Rs 3000 crore, they said.

The NBA demanded that the power purchase agreement be scrapped in view of its "unviability" and that there should be no restarting of work until completion of rehabilitation.