ARREST OF ACTIVIST SAROJ MOHANTY

AN URGENT APPEAL
17 July 2007

Saroj Mohanty, poet and long-time activist with Prakrutik SampadSurakhya Parishad (PSSP), which has over 15 years been opposing theentry of large bauxite mining companies in Kashipur, has beenarrested. Saroj was picked up at a railway station in RayagadaDistrict, on Saturday, 14 July. He is currently in judicial custody inRayagada district jail.The charges against him are completely fabricated but serious. Thesecharges include section 395 of the IPC (Dacoity), section 397 (Robberyor dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), and section450 (House trespass with intention to commit offence that ispunishable with imprisonment for life).

These absurd charges against Saroj, stem from attempts in late 2004 bythe mining company UAIL and the Orissa government, hell-bent onpushing theproject for bauxite mining through, to undermine theresistance to the project by slapping false cases on the leadershipand mass base of PSSP. The intense protests by the people was met bysevere repression, harassment and arrests, which continues to thisday. As part of the continuing repression carried out at the time, anumber of PSSP activists and ordinary people were falsely charged.

Among them was Saroj Mohanty.Prior to his intense involvement as senior activist with the strugglesof the adivasi people of Kashipur region, Saroj Mohanty was activewith the anti-liquor movement in Sambalpur district as soon as hecompleted his MA in Political Science from Sambalpur University . He has been a student leader throughout his college and university years.

He is a well-known progressive Oriya poet and intellectual and iscurrently the Editor of the respected journal Anvesha. Anvesha hasbeen a forum for rich debate on questions pertaining to development, industrialization and other important socio-economic issues of ourtime.

The arrest of Saroj Mohanty at this time constitutes a setback to themovement in Kashipur and to movements that are erupting all over thecountry against the plunder of people's resources, lands andlivelihoods by large industry. It is an increasingly alarming trendthat activists and movements struggling for preservation of people'slives and livelihoods are being ruthlessly targeted physically and bythe use of law.

This is an urgent appeal to you/ your organization to join the manyvoices demanding his release and that these fabricated cases againstSaroj and other activists of PSSP Kashipur be withdrawn.A protest programme demanding his release is being organized on 21July in Bhubaneshwar in front of RAJ Bhavan, the Governor's Residencefrom 10 am onwards.

We request you to lend your solidarity and raiseyour voice byparticipating in the programme; organize protest programmes in yourown city on that date; write to the Chief Minister and Governor,Orissa demanding that Saroj be released. The suggested draft of themail is at the end of this letter. You can change it in your own waytoo. Do send a copy to kashipursolidarityi ndelhi@yahoo. com.

In solidarity, Ranjana Padhi, Nagraj Adve, Madhumita Dutta, D Manjit and Arun BidaniFor Kashipur Solidarity Group

Shri Naveen Patnaik
Chief Minister of Orissa
Tel. No.(O) 0674 2531100,
Fax no. 0674 2535100,
Email: cmo@ori.nic. in

Shri Rameshwar Thakur
GovernorPhone 0674-2536111
Fax 0674-2536582

LSM leader was ordered to quit from 4 districts of Gujarat by Narmada Collector;

Dear Friends, Leader of Lok Sangharsh Morcha Bhikhu Bhai Tadvi was ordered byNarmada district Collector to quit his home district Narmada for twoyears. This order applies to the nearby districts of Vadodara, Surat,and Bharuchh. Bhikhu Bhai is a popular Tribal leader and Nationalsecretaries of LSM, with no criminal background whatsoever. He hasbeen erroneously charged for instigating the tribal for spreadingNaxalite activities in the area.As you might be knowing that LSM held its National Conference (17-18March, 07) recently at Sagbara (Gujarat) which was attended by 45thousand Tribal and other deprived people from across the country.Several national leaders from left and democratic forces addressed theconference. Bhikhu Bhai was prominent amongst the organizers.Friends, this has not happened for the first time with LSM leaders.You are aware that Suman Bhai Vasawa president of the Gujarat unit ofLSM was arrested by Gujarat police in year 2006 under PASA a draconianlaw, like TADA, on some false allegations. He was released after 50days in detention. About 5 thousand workers of LSM were arrested whilecelebrating the birth anniversary of Shahide- Azam Bhagat Singh on 28September 2006 at Dediapada in Gujarat. The public meetings organizedby LSM have been banned several times by Gujarat police in the past.On the one hand LSM is gaining more popularity and overwhelmingsupport from Tribal community in south Gujarat; on other hand theGovernment of Gujarat is continuously attacking and indulging in falsecases against the leaders of LSM in a desperate fashion.Villagers of Halgampadi, talluka- Sagbara were attacked on 7th July,07 by Gujarat police and forest officials during the cultivation oftheir land. Many have been severely injured including dozen of women.Among the injured villagers are Mangalaben Sunil, indiraben chhagan,kamlaben ravidas, gujraben kusa, gulwantiben geba, ukariben kuwanrSingh, minaxiben dasarath, shakuntalben kamlesh, segiben govind,jamunaben anand, Vijay Singh jatriya, dasarath lama, santosh nonsingh, arvind kochya, chhagan rupji.As you all aware the assembly election is being scheduled for themonth of Number-December 2007. LSM has already made the call to allits allies and the people to defeat the anti-democratic communalgovernment currently in powerWe would like to request you kindly write a protest letter toGovernment of Gujarat, the Governor of Gujarat and District Collectorof Narmada to stop the repression continuing on tribal as well aswithdrawal of action taken by Narmada district collector against Bhikhu Bhai immediately.

Governor's Email--- Phone /Fax No- 079-23260110/23243171-172-173
Chief Minister's Email?mail@narendramodi.org Fax No.?079-23222101/23222020District
collector Narmada?Fax No.?02640-222161Telephone No.?02640-222171

With regards,
Ambarish Rai Pratibha Shinde
President Gen.Secretary

LOK SANGHARSH MORCHA

CHAURI-CHAURA DECLARATION

Land, Dignity and Freedom footmarch which covered around 140 villages, 7 urban slum in four districts of Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur district, It started from Tilakwania village in Ghughali town of Maharajganj district on June 1st, 2007 and culminated at Chauri Chaura on June 22nd, 2007 with a total of 370 kilometers. Organised by Uttar-Pradesh Land Alliance and led by Shri Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Director, Social Development Foundation, Delhi, the Padyatra raised the issue of hunger, land, water and sustainable development. Nearly 20 Padyatris including women and girls from the marginalised sections of society walked this distance in scorching heat for full 22 days. It raised the issue of the failure of the previous government to deal with the issue of livelihood of marginalised communities and their continuous marginalisation through hunger, malnutrition, poverty and depression. It also voiced its concern over growing communalisation process as well as spreading of superstition among the poorer sections of society. At many places the marchers spoke to small gatherings, met people, visited affected areas and conducted social audits of schemes like NREGA.

At the culmination of 22 days padyatra at Chauri Charua, we demand the following :

1. The government must take special measures to improve the condition of Mushahars, Rajbhars, Bansfors, Nonias, Machchuaras, Dom, Swachchakars, Pasis and Chamars. These communities are living in abysmally degrading conditions and need special measures.

2. In the Eastern Uttar-Pradesh the Sand Mafias are controlling the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Gurra, Rapti and Ghaghara. The mechanised sand mining has resulted in soil erosion by these rivers during monsoon. Thousands of hectare of land has turned infertile. In Brahmapur region Rapti has destroyed Ranapar area. In Kaptanganj and Ramkola towns in Kushinagar district are facing severe soil erosion due to sand mining. We demand immediate halt of mechanised sand mining and ask the government to allow the fishworker to do the same but government should fix up a limit for the same.

3. In many villages of Eastern Uttar-Pradesh powerful local people have illegaly grabbed the land
given to Dalits and Most backward communities. In many villages, the Dalits are not even allowed passage to move out. Government must ensure that every person live with dignity at his/her land that every one has a right to access road in his/her house.

4. The Sugar factories and distillaries in Ramkola, Kaptanganj, Deoria, Rudrapur, Sardarnagar
are throwing chemical waste in the rivers like Chhoti Gandak, Rapti, Amy and Gurra resulting in heavy pollution in the rivers. The fishworkers are facing hunger as the fish catch is almost nill. Apart from this, the waste has spilled over to a vast agricultural land turning them completely barren and dangerous. The ground water in most of the eastern UP town is contaminated which is a severe threat to public health. We demand immediate action against these factory/mill owners and ask the government to compensate the farmers who have lost their land to these mills. The Pollution Control board should be asked to explain as why they continue to allow such hazards industries to run.

5. In Kushingar and Gorakhpur the condition of National Employment Guaranttee Scheme is a matter of grave concern. It has not been implemented accordingly. We found work being done through tractors and people without work despite having the valid card. The scheme seems to have failed because of the connivance between the village Pradhans and block officials. We demand severe action against erring officials to implement the scheme and ask the government to form a monitoring and evaluating committee which should include civil society representatives.

6. In Poorvanchal, we found lot of discrepency in the distribution of ration cards. Those who should have been eligible for the cards have not got it while others have got it. We demand strong action the Sarpanches and officials who are involved in nepotism and corruption. We also demand from the government that the reach of the Public Distribution System should be expanded and it must include important edible items, books, cloths, Masalas etc so that the poor can benefit from this.

7. Hunger and starvation is prevelent in Eastern Uttar-Pradesh. A majority of families do not ration for two times. The children have uncertain futrue. It is shameful that children from Mushahars, Chauhan, Rajbhar etc are eating rats and fishermen are forced to survive on snails. We demand the government to focus on these communities with special programmes particularly developing schools in the villages with mid day meals and other incentives for school children and their parents.

8. The government must form special Land Courts to settle land disputes and implement the land reform measures strongly and effectively. The government must concentrate on giving communal entitlement. We also demand that women should be given priority in allotment of agricultural land and all new entitlement whether residential or agricultural should have joint entitlment.

Today on the day of culmination of Padyatra we committ ourselves to continue our struggle for Land, Dignity and freedom. We will continue to make government aware of the ground situation while fighting for our rights democratically. We also want to make it clear that this war of independence is not possible with out the support and alliance of anti caste, anti communal, anti superstition and progressive forces in which the role of women, Dalits, Most backward communities and tribals have an important role to play. We also feel that this for dignity and freedom we have to take inspiration from Baa Saheb Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule, and EV Ramaswamy Naicar. They remain our icons and role models in our struggle for the creation of a civil society.


By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY.. Privatisation turns murkier in K East w

A pilot privatisation effort in Mumbai's K East ward ignores the lessons from other such efforts, both in India and elsewhere. Worse still, proponents of privatisation show little regard for public particiaption, and reject other options at the outset. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.28 June 2007 - In January 2006, the World Bank awarded a contract to Castalia, a French consulting firm, for developing a pilot project for privatisation of the water system in K East Ward of Mumbai. K East ward, with a population of about one million (water supply wards are not the same as electoral wards; the area contains 11 or 12 electoral wards) is like a large city by itself. The consultancy was funded through a US $692,500 grant from the Private Public Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), a multi-donor agency run by the World Bank. If successfully implemented, the pilot will be extended to the rest of the city.This step flew in the face of several recent developments. Around the world, privatised water supply projects that were once described as model projects - like Metro Manila and Buenos Aires - have collapsed. Nearer home, around the time the K east contract was signed, the Delhi government, facing intense protests, had dropped its plans to hand over management of water in two zones to private companies. The protests using documents obtained under the Right to Information Act had shown that 65 per cent of the Delhi Jal Board's annual operation and maintenance expenditure would have gone simply to pay for 84 experts. And in the process, water tariffs would have shot up almost 10 times.Apparently ignorant of the developments in Delhi, the project in K east was set in motion. But fairly soon thereafter, the strains began to show. Amidst mounting opposition to privatisation, the pilot project quickly became controversial.MCGM adopts unconvincing stanceSeveral questions were raised. Two of these were particularly troubling. Why should a water supply-related contract in Mumbai be awarded by a second party (the World Bank) to a third party (Castalia)? Why did the contract begin with the a priori intention of bringing in privatisation? The first question was simply ignored by the project proponents; the legitimacy of such intervention remains questionable. For the second question, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) tried a number of answers, each raising more doubts than it answered.One of the main justifications given for privatisation of water systems worldwide is that public operators are highly loss-making entities and have no money for new investments, and the private sector will bring in this capital. But the water system of the MCGM in general and K East in particular is making huge profits. Total water revenue in just the K East ward is 661.7 million rupees and the operating cost is just Rs.65 million, so the revenue surplus is a whopping Rs.596.7 million or about 60 crore rupees. Naturally, doubts were raised - is privatisation being pushed only to corner a part of this huge profit?MCGM's first response was to deny that there would be any privatisation; it insisted that the assets would remain under its ownership. This was a specious argument. Privatisation comes in many forms, including management contracts, service contracts, lease, concession agreements etc. Asset sale is only one form of privatisation. Moreover, the Terms of Reference (TOR) given to Castalia were clear that "MCGM envisages to award a "Water Distribution Improvement Contract" to a professional Operator ...". Indeed, the very presence of PPIAF indicates that privatisation is involved, for the PPIAF has been set up with the express aim of " helping developing countries improve the quality of their infrastructure through private sector involvement."MCGM also claimed that there would be no tariff hike as a result of the project, although evidence from all over the world has shown that tariffs shoot up once privatisation begins. Water tariffs went up 500 per cent in Manila, 300 per cent in Cochabamba, and 700 per cent in Guinea on privatisation. The TOR do not specifically require the consultants to develop the project while maintaining the existing tariffs. On the contrary, the TOR mentions that this project is a part of larger reforms that include "defining a pricing strategy to recover cost"; translated, this means the elimination of subsidies and an increase in tariffs.24 x 7It was hoped that the Consultant's report would begin to shed some light on the issues. The TOR required a Second Stakeholder Workshop to be "organised when the project design and contractual arrangement become clearer but before the first draft of the bidding document is issued". This Consultation was held on 2-3 June 2007.Castalia's presentation at this event repeatedly emphasised 24 x 7 - a reference to uninterrupted water supply at all hours on all days. This is by itself an important aim for any water supply system. Uninterrupted supply has two main advantages. One is that people can draw water when they need, unlike now, when they have to get up at odd hours, their daily schedules made (or disrupted) by the timing of water supply. The second advantage is containing contamination. When pipes are empty most of the time, contaminants can seep in through cracks and fissures. A pipe carrying water for 24 hours a day, on the other hand, will not allow this as the water pressure is acting outwards.Castalia advocated making the K East system a 24 x 7 system, citing these advantages. Yet, its own studies do not establish these justifications. Take the case of contamination. Castalia tested the water quality for three months - January, February and March 2007. In all cases, it found that the samples met the WHO Excellent standard. It then took the data for 2005 from some other source (not mentioned) and this too showed that water quality was excellent to good, except for the monsoon months. Castalia is now saying that since there is contamination in the monsoon months, 24 x 7 system is required. Yet, it does not mention that the monsoon of 2005 was an extraordinary one, with Mumbai being deluged. Strangely, Castalia did not conduct the tests in the monsoon of 2006.Morever, 24 x 7 supply has some disadvantages too. Cracks and fissures in a pipe with intermittent supply will leak only for a few hours, when the water is flowing. With 24-hour flow, leakages too will be round the clock. Thus, a 24 x 7 system needs a high degree of leak control, or else the losses will increase dramatically. The system also needs to be continuously maintained under pressure. All this requires large investments, and good operations and maintenance. This can have severe implications for the costs.The second justification is that continuous supply will allow people to manage their schedules better. In K east ward, like many other places, the better-off societies already enjoy 24 x 7 supply, as they have underground sumps and overhead tanks with pumps that store the municipal supply to ensure de facto round-the-clock supply. The real issue is whether the slums and the poorer consumers will get access to uninterrupted supply.In a 24-hour system, public standposts are the first to be eliminated, as these are seen to be sources of loss - revenue loss as well as water leakage. The case study of Hyderabad (presented by its Water Supply and Sewage Board, at the same Consultation), reported that 33 standposts were eliminated for its 24 x 7 pilot project. What happens to those who depend on such community facilities? They will have to take a private connection, which may be unaffordable. Even worse, a private connection may not be available to all. In Mumbai, unauthorised settlements established after 1 January 1995 are not eligible for muncipal water supply and other services. When such areas do not get private connections, and public standposts are removed, residents are left with little choice but to 'steal' water, breaking the pipes if necessary. This will mean huge increase in losses with a 24 hour flow in the pipes. One cannot talk of 24x7 supply unless even the poorest household can be assured of af Incredibly, the report does not say what this shift will cost. It does not mention how these costs will be recovered. It does not say what will be the initial and recurring costs for a new connection. Hence one is unable to say whether the slum population will really be able to benefit from this change. Nor does the report establish the justification for 24 x 7 on health grounds. A simple compilation of costs and benefits would have greatly helped understand what was being proposed, but this too was missing.Management optionsCastalia presented several management options, with increasing degrees of private involvement, showing a clear preference for outsourcing and/or privatisation. Only one of the options was to institute reforms in the public sector itself. Castalia clearly feels that the department will not be able to deliver on this front, especially in the areas of controlling illegal consumption, metering and leakage control. Several members of the water supply department were present in the stakeholder consultation and they readily agreed with this. They said that the problems identified by Castalia are well known. They agreed that the department has the capacity to deliver performance but the system does not allow this to be happen. Nonetheless, there was a groundswell of support for reforms in the public sector itself, and the stakeholders demanded that this option - without privatisation - be exercised first, before alternatives were considered.This raises a larger issue; employees clamouring for self-reform as the first option is often a dubious exercise. While the water supply department knows the systems better than anyone else, and has highly capable people, it is equally true that often it chooses not to work well. As the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) said, "We have the capacity to run the system, but still, people's problems are galore. People come to us with complaints, no one even looks at them. They wait for hours. We have abandoned the people." No wonder, then, that only the threat of privatisation appears to prompt the public sector to perform in an efficient and people friendly manner. The Delhi Jal Board, for instance, was eager to talk about reforms only so long as the privatisation proposals were around. Once these were shelved, activists report, the Board lost interest in the numerous suggestions for improvement that had come up as alternatives to privatisation.A secretive processAn important cause for public outrage, as in so many other projects, is that the government's position appears to be dictated by ideological views of consultants and their paymasters, and shows no inclination to include the public. Castalia's presentation of global experiences of private sector participation in water supply was one-sided, leaving out the negative impacts. Stakeholders were called to the consultations without being given a copy of Castalia's findings. The full report has not been made public at the date of writing this article, about 12 days after the consultation. Castalia claimed that its contract has been altered from that of just preparing for the involvement of a private player to one that presents several options. But these changes to the TOR have not been made public. Thus, the process is being carried out in a highly non-transparent way, with only a show being made of seeking inputs and consultation.All in all, the muddied waters of the K East project have become even murkier.

By Shripad Dharmadhikary
(Shripad Dharmadhikary coordinates the Manthan Adhyanan Kendra, a centre set up to research, analyse and monitor water and energy issues. He attended the consultation discussed in this report.)
URL for this article:http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/jun/gov-keast.htm__._,_.___