Twelve international participants in the Peoples' World Water Forum were able to travel to Haridwar in Northern India to see for themselves the effect of dam and international water corporations on the Ganges.
A dispute surfaced at first as a so called public-private project which would involve Suez-Degremont with the Delhi Water Board was supposed to provide water to Delhi. Suez-Degremont is a Frenh based transnatonal corproation with Water contracts all over the world. The Sonia Vihar water treatment plant is in Delhi. The water will come from the Tehri Dam throught the upper Ganges Canal and down through giant pipline to Delhi.
The Ganges is considered the source of life, most Hindus will visit and almost all will have a bottle of Ganges water in their homes. The Holy river is where the cremated ashes of Hindus are scattered. The river cleans one of sins and brings peace. It is more than a river, more than water, it is life itself. The upper Ganga Canal, which starts at Hardiwar carries the holy water of the Ganges to the place where the new pipeline starts. The new water system would remove this holy water from the spiritual rituals that mark Hindu life. Indians are justifiably angry.
But the water contract itself, a prize example of privatization, is a major disaster. It amounts to no more than the outright theft of Indian water, the necessity of life for millions of people by a corporation intent on profit. The Dam is being built by the goernment of India under the direction of the Suez Degremont corporation. The plant will be run by Suez and its profits guranteed by the government of India. There will be no environmental restrictions and little concern for the farmers damaged by this change in the water supply.
The full impact of this project dawned on us when we saw the huge expanse of the plant being built in North Delhi and the fact that no one, not even the police would be allowed to enter the grounds without a pass.
At the Ganges holy site in Haridwar we attended the evening prayer. Every monring a half hour before sunrise and every evening a half hour after sunset peole gather in throngs. Many come from hundreds of miles to bathe in the ganges, to sit by the river, to pray. Women in colorful cloths, candles floating on the river, the smell of camphor, the banging of gongs, the chants. The complete giving over of the peole to this time and place touched us all. Afterward we met with local priests and some young people organizing against the misuse of the Ganges.
We were told the stories of the Ganges and its role in people's lives. We were told of what was to happen and what it would mean to people. Back at our hotel we discussed all that we heard and decided we would join in solidarity with these young peole to oppose the dam and make the story known to the world, at the World Social Forum and in our lives.
The next morning a few of us sat and wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India detailing our thoughts and our demands. The Indian group wrote a letter in Hindi saying what we wre doing and taught us a chant that means "Save the Ganges".
After our morning meeting with the group, we all went out on the strets of the temple area handing out the Hindi leaflet and chanting Ganga Bachao. The local people were suitably intrigued. And the next day back in Delhi we were told that ntional TV had heard about this event and had gone to Haridwar to investigate. Score one for international solidarity.
The fight continues. The privatization of water, and the greed of these global corporations was the subject matter of the People's World Water Forum, about which more tomorrow.
Jean Grossholtz in New Delhi, India.
See also:
http://www.communitiesbychoice.org/printme.cfm?ID=1186&print=1%20 http://www.globalization101.org/news.asp?NEWS_ID=48 
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