[Seattle-editorial] FEATURE PROPOSAL: Enron and India

[gentry lange]

[Subtitle] ENRON"S WORLDWIDE IMPACT <br>

[Title] Enron and India's Biggest Dam <br>


<P>While the fact that US citizens <a 
href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/785565.asp">recently lost their jobs and 
retirement funds</a> is apparently a story the national media cannot ignore. 
<a href="http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=457"> Enron's 
track record </a> prior to its spectacular collapse is shocking and rarely 
makes headline news even now.</P>

<P><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0203-03.htm"> Enron helped 
to create thousands of environmental refugees in India</A> where
they forced through the development of the Dahbol Dam Project.  India's 
Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) guarunteed $30 Billion in
payment to Enron for building the Dahbol Power Project. Now with Enron 
Collapse, <a 
href="http://www.corpwatchindia.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=543"> the Dam is 
apparently closed, and the people who lost their land are demanding it 
back</a>. </P>

<P>Way back in January 25, 1999, <a href="http://www.hrw.org">Human Rights 
Watch</a> published an <a href="http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/enron/"> 166 
page book </a>documenting exstensive human rights in connection to the 
construction of the dam. Relocation of Villagers and towns affected by the 
project never occured, while the completed dam projects have only produced 
20% of the electricity projected during construction. Despite India's <a 
href="http://www.narmada.org/nvdp.dams/index.html#map_links"> long history 
with Dam projects</a>, there are <a 
href="http://www.narmada.org/maps/nvdp.jpg">plans for several more dams in 
the works</a>.<P>

<P>For some background on the rest of the Enron story that the major media 
is not covering, including George Bush's long history of working
to Globalize Enron's destructive potential, read Pratap Chatterjee's 
article, <a href="http://www.sfbg.com/News/32/17/WorldView/">Global
Gospel of Gas</a>, printed way back in January of 1998. Or for a more recent 
account, check out the book <a 
href="http://www.southendpress.org/books/powerpolitics.shtml">Power Politics 
by Arundhati Roy</a>.

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