new delhi

The Indian government has stirred up controversy by withdrawing permission at the last minute for the Cape Town-based independent World Commission on Dams (WCD) to hold a set of public hearings in India on large dams. The meeting will now be held in Cape Town.

The WCD was formed in February at the initiative of the World Bank and the World Conservation Union. It aims to start a dialogue on developing dams that will have minimal environmental impact. Its worldwide membership includes governments, non-government environmentalist groups and indigenous people's organizations.

The Indian hearings were to have been the first in a series around the world aimed at developing a set of guidelines for the planning, design and construction of environmentally safe dams.

Having obtained government clearance, the commission had scheduled Indian hearings in Bhopal and New Delhi this week (19-23 September). But on 11 September, WCD chairman Kader Asmal, South Africa's minister for water resources and forestry, was told that it was not an “opportune” time to visit India to conduct the hearings.

Indian officials say the government asked the commission to “postpone” its visit, as it did not want the WCD hearings to interfere with a legal case over the Sardar Sarovar dam project which is due before the Indian supreme court later this month.

The massive dam across the River Narmada has been embroiled in bitter controversy for several years between the Gujarat government, which is building the dam, and environmental and human-rights activists. These are led by sociologist and WCD member Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada), which claims that the Gujarat government has resettled only 4,500 of the 120,000 people displaced by the dam.

A promise by the commission that the hearings would exclude reference to the Narmada dam project has not persuaded New Delhi to alter its stand.

Patkar has alleged that the Indian government cancelled the WCD's visit under pressure from Gujarat politicians who believe the commission consists mainly of anti-dam activists. Two weeks ago, the Gujarat state legislature passed a resolution describing the WCD's proposed visit as “an intrusion into our internal affairs”.

But according to Asmal, the commission seeks to bring “a more responsible approach to investments in large dam projects” by conducting a comprehensive review of their costs and benefits.