Urgent Narmada Appeal - Solidarity Needed From Ribblesiders

We received the following message from the International Rivers Network, it explains about how a local community in India is resisting the damming of their river, and who find their views and needs being ignored by those with political power (does that sound familiar?). - please click on the link now and send messages of protest about the treatment of the villagers of Gunjari to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh!

"On June 11, 2007, the government of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh closed the gates of the Omkareshwar dam in the Narmada valley. Since then, dozens of villages have been flooded, and houses, fields and trees have disappeared under the water. Most families from the submerged villages have not been given new land -- they have nowhere to go.



Since the submergence started, the affected people have been doing everything in their power to protest their unjust treatment and the destruction of their livelihoods. People in semi-submerged Gunjari village in Madhya Pradesh are refusing to vacate their houses, and women are standing knee-deep in water for hours. In Khandwa, the district headquarters, 4,000 people have been sitting in protest, facing strong monsoon rainstorms, for more than two weeks.

Residents say that they will not vacate their villages until adequate rehabilitation is provided by the administration. Support the demands of the people in the Narmada Valley by sending a letter to the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh!


Visit the following website to send the letter:


http://www.irn.org/action/070622omkareshwar.php

In solidarity,

South Asia Team

International Rivers Network"

You can read our earlier coverage of the Narmada Dam protests (and other pro-river campaigns around the world) here.