NEW DELHI: Under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the Maheshwar dam affected families on Friday held a demonstration outside the Power Finance Corporation here to protest against its decision to finance the project that has been handed over by the Madhya Pradesh Government to S. Kumars.

The project is one of the 30 large dams being constructed on the Narmada river with irreversible consequences for the affected families, environment and river basin. About 20,000 families would be displaced, the NBA said.

The affected families led by Sushilabai, sarpanch of Mardana village in Nimar region, challenged the PFC to show that the power project was in national interest, had a visible tariff plan and would provide cheap and affordable power to consumers. They said they had come to Delhi to meet the senior management of the PFC but their request was not granted.

The women demonstrators said they had not come to seek a better rehabilitation or compensation package. They were determined not to let the "destructive" Maheshwar project be built, "even if it meant they would have to sacrifice their lives in the process."

NBA activist Alok Agarwal said the "secretive attitude" of the PFC management and their refusal to meet the affected people showed that there was more to the issue than meets the eye.

He said even though the PFC had been censured once by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for disbursing Rs. 100 crore to the Maheshwar project, allegedly in violation of certain conditions, it was preparing to put another Rs. 800 crore into the project along with a financial guarantee.

The Housing and Urban Development Corporation and the Rural Electrification Corporation had also been asked to put Rs. 250 crore each into the project.

The NBA said that though the installed capacity of the project was 400 MW, it would only produce 49 MW of power and that too mostly during the monsoon months when there was surplus power in the State.

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