1. The undersigned, Madhu Kohli, files this claim on her own behalf and on behalf of persons whose names and addresses are attached. I represent the case of residents of Singrauli, India. The Singrauli region consisting of approximately 400 villages is situated in one of the remote parts of India about a 1000 Km away from Delhi. The claimants are all small and marginal cultivators and are directly affected by the World Bank (WB) loan (Cr.3632 approved on June 1993) to National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) for the expansion of coal fired power plants in Singrauli. For fear of reprisal against the claimants, the names of those persons who have authorised the undersigned to represent their interests have been made available to the Inspection Panel, but are otherwise to remain confidential.

2. Ms Madhu Kohli who initially came to Singrauli as a representative of a Delhi based NGO Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has since September 1995 been working as an independent activist living in Singrauli. She has been concerned about the adverse social and environmental impacts of pursuance of an intensive thermal power development programme in Singrauli region in Central India. She has been particularly concerned about the dubious role of World Bank as 'lead investor' in recklessly financing a disastrous energy development model despite the knowledge of its consequences for hundreds and thousands of people and natural resources of the region through a plethora of studies many of which were sponsored by the Bank itself. For the last two years she has been living in Mitihini village and supporting the people's struggle who have been suffering the consequences of WB financing without proper monitoring of the ground level reality. She has been authorized by the villagers who are continuing to struggle for fair rehabilitation to put in a claim at the Inspection Panel. The authorization of these people in Hindi (alongwith English translation) is attached to the claim.

3. The issues and concerns in this claim are pervasive throughout the project area. The only official concern in these projects is that the civil works proceed unhampered, come what may. The NTPC has had WB involvement in Singrauli region since 1977 and the experience-past and present - of Project Affected Persons (PAPs) has been the same. The NTPC and the WB consider in their actions, rehabilitation to be a matter of low priority. The outlook towards rehabilitation has been adhoc, casual bordering on cruelty, and the reliefs granted depend on the level of popular resistance. Often, in the case of power and mining projects in Singrauli, people's resistance has been weakened by repeated experience of displacement, increasing poverty and continuous betrayal.

4 The thousands of residents of Singrauli have been repeatedly and haphazardly displaced by a multiplicity of power and mining projects since 1960. The construction of Rihand dam in 1960 marks the beginning of industrial development in this region and also the beginning of the woes of the people and their continuous betrayal.

5. The main objective of the Rihand dam was irrigation and hydel power and in this sense it has failed since the dam is now being used for cooling water for thermal power generation and as a sink for absorbing hazardous and toxic wastes from a host of power stations, mines and hazardous industries that have come up all around it. The Singrauli region at present houses six thermal power stations, nine open cast coal mines, an aluminium extraction project, a pesticide manufacturing industry, several explosive factories, three cement manufacturing units, hundreds of stone crushing units besides the Rihand and Obra dams. Obra dam was built in 1960s downstream of the Rihand dam.

6. Since 1980 the World Bank became a lead investor to promote an ambitious thermal power programme in Singrauli and involved numerous bilateral financiers in the region. Vast stretches of the Singrauli area are being surveyed for the last several years for presence of uranium. The master plan of the Singrauli region is targeted to produce "cheap" electricity from the estimated 10000 MT of coal reserves in the region -upto 20000 MW is the estimated power potential of Singrauli. The cost of this development model is being disproportionately borne by the local people whose lives have been disrupted and destroyed. The legacy of the World Bank's involvement in Singrauli includes greater impoverishment, the whole sale disruption of communities, abuse of basic human rights and an increasingly bleak future for the local people.

7. The Singrauli region is spread over two States of Central India, Uttar Pradesh (Sonebhadra district) and Madhya Pradesh (Sidhi district). A map of the region showing major power plants, mines and proposed expansion of power stations is attached to the claim. The region was once known for its natural and forest wealth. It was the home to the famous white tiger and the Kaimur mountain range was once known for its rich biodiversity. The people of this region were predominantly tribal, numerous ethnic groups included the Khairwar, Dhangar, Kol, Baigas, Gonds, Dharkars, Panikas, Agarias, Kevat, Baiswars - all very peace loving communities. These groups primarily lived a sustainable agricultural existence , cattle raising being an integral part of the local economy. People depended for a host of their daily needs like fuel, fodder, medicinal herbs, timber on the surrounding forests. They lived a near self sufficient life with very little dependence on the market economy.

I. WB Investments in Singrauli

8. The influx of multilateral and bilateral capital which brought with it high technology has destroyed the landscape, economy nay , the very identity and peace of this region. The World Bank had alone invested till 1990, over US $850 million in Singrauli. The past Bank investments include an IDA credit No. 685 -Singrauli Thermal Power project I (approved March 1977, closed June 1984) , IDA credit 1027 for second Singrauli Thermal Power project (approved May 1980, closed March 1989), IBRD LN. 2393 for Dudhichua Stage I open cast mine and IBRD LN. No. 2555 (approved May 1985Narmada closed December 1992), for Rihand Power Transmission. The NTPC has been a major recipient of World Bank loans in fact it was established in 1975 under WB advice to enable the State to play a major role in thermal power generation through creation of a public sector utility. Of the six power projects in Singrauli three are owned and run by NTPC. These are Singrauli I and II and Rihand I and II (proposed) in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Vindhyachal I and II (proposed) in Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) The current WB loan No. Cr. 3632 of US $400 million (approved June 1993) will finance expansion of Rihand and Vindhyachal power plants of NTPC. The Bank has played a central role in shaping the policies of NTPC ever since its inception. As such the Bank has had the leverage to influence policies and practices on rehabilitation and resettlement. Not surprisingly, it has not used this leverage to benefit the PAPs at large. The Dudhichua mine is owned and managed by Northern Coalfields Ltd.(NCL) - a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) - a public sector coal mining company. CIL is also a recipient of WB funds and a major WB loan for restructuring CIL is in the pipeline.

9. The power projects of Singrauli have been at the centre of an intense national and international debate for causing social and environmental havoc. In the forefront of the debate in 80s were several local NGOs, national groups and international organisations including Srijan Lokhit Samiti- a Singrauli based NGO; Lokayan - a Delhi based group and US based Environmental Defense Fund. The Berne Declaration, a Swiss NGO, has been actively monitoring the WB investments in Singrauli since 1993. The world wide criticism of the devastating effects of WB investments in Singrauli was at its peak in late 1980's. The pressure of this criticism compelled the Bank to appear to take stock of the impact through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The study (popularly known as the EdF study) was financed out of an undisbursed loan to NTPC for Singrauli Power Project II at a phenomenal cost of US dollars 4.9 million. The EIA was contracted to Electricite des France (EdF) one of the 8 most powerful power companies in the world also known as the E 7 Network. The report in 1991 confirmed the extent of damage to society and environment of the region caused by huge investments as significantly alarming. An OED evaluation of the Bank s NTPC projects came to critical conclusions in 1993. The Bankwide resettlement report of 1994 called the current WB loan for expansion of power stations in Singrauli to be a test case on R&R.

10. The region has no doubt been a gold mine for multilateral and bilateral capital; multinational corporations to dump their technology and machinery; for big and medium contractors; for the local administration and police, and for migrant traders. But for most people who lost their livelihood and homes because of land acquisition, the investments in Singrauli have brought their pauperisation and deterioration of quality of life.

II. Impacts of Past Investments

11. The EdF study as well as later studies brought out some significant findings which should have formed the basis for a serious analysis by the Bank of the impacts of future investments. However, the Bank has failed to ensure mitigation of the damage from past projects and did not adequately incorporate those experiences in its current investments. The studies, for instance, reported that : - two-thirds of the PAPs of power projects and half of those affected by mines are without employment. - prospects of jobs in future scenario are limited and least promising for those who were expropriated and deprived of their land and other life support systems. Less than 20% of permanent jobs in industry presently go to the local population and almost all of them are jobs requiring little skill. -building of new power stations would be incapable of solving employment problems of the region. -opportunities for small trading are restricted severely. -land acquisition has been in excess of requirements (huge areas of land lie unused for more than 12 years). -the prevailing contract labour system is plagued with corruption and other malpractices despite safeguards. (In the case of NTPC projects in Singrauli it is at the behest of WB that thousands of jobs of perennial nature are put out on contract). -the rehabilitation policies do not work well and the relation between local people and major corporations are governed by one ruling principle which is that they (people) must not be allowed to get in the way of production process. -the altered land use pattern has made the area food deficit. A large part of its food needs are imported. -the remaining fertile patches of land must be saved at any cost. -politically and from the point of view of order maintenance "it may at present be possible to pull the wool over the eyes of the (local) population. Absurd, but wonderful promises have been made and majority of peasants do not understand any of the issues at stake. They are extremely divided by old and new divisions and some of their leaders and representatives have taken sides with expropriators for political and financial reasons". ".....these people (reference is to the people of Waidhan plain where proposed large scale acquisitions will uproot them from a fertile area) will form the greatest social drama of the decade to come in the region, if nothing is done to slow down present developments." (EdF chapter 3 socio-economics-para 4.2.3.4. P 88).

12. The EdF study also concluded that the drinking water sources had been contaminated and water was not fit for drinking, dust pollution was severe and in some areas as many as 50% of people were affected by pulmonary infections, mercury was present in the food chain in the region the stacks of thermal power projects being an important source. The large scale and haphazard acquisitions had resulted in rapid loss of forest cover and replacement of bio-diverse vegetation with monocultures predominantly fast growing species. Expansion of power projects would put further stress on the environment and the remaining natural resources of the region.

13. The above account brings out some of the elements of the volatile situation in Singrauli within which to locate the current WB investment to support further expansion of the same devastating model of energy production. Additional harms and abuses are described below.

14. The Bank without paying heed to the findings of EdF and other subsequent studies floated yet another major investment in 1993. In so doing, the Bank also ignored the findings of studies on Indian power sector which confirmed the potential for conservation of atleast 36000 MW at a much less cost than setting up more thermal power stations (USAID, Opportunities for Improving End-use Electricity Efficiency in India, November 1991). This failure to adequately consider alternatives and to accurately gauge the impacts of Bank lending is in violation of Bank policies. World Bank energy policy requires its investments in the energy sector to be directed towards development of integrated sustainable strategies which include demand side management components such as energy conservation and efficiency. The current loan has not adequately considered these possibilities.

III. The Latest WB Financed Project

15. The World Bank is financing NTPC Power Generation Project (Loan No. 3632). This is a sectoral loan involving a first disbursement of 400 million dollars to NTPC. It is meant to enable NTPC to enhance generation by 1000 MW each at two of its existing utilities Rihand project in Sonebhadra (U.P.) and Vindhyachal project in Sidhi (M.P.). The loan is meant to help NTPC enter into joint ventures with private power companies in other words, to facilitate privatisation of NTPC. The project also has as its objective strengthening of resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) and environment and bringing the R&R component in compliance with Bank policies. This aspect of the loan applies to all NTPC projects, not just to those being expanded pursuant to the loan. The present claim therefore points out the adverse impact of continuous denial of appropriate R&R and unaddressed environmental issues on the persons affected by past and current investments in NTPC projects. The situation of people affected/to be affected by expansion of Vindhyachal and Rihand power plants, it must be emphasised, is not unique but is a repetition of the experience of thousands of others who were affected during the first stage. Viewed in this sense, categorisation of PAPs into old and new projects of NTPC in Singrauli does not appeared to be justified as has been done while appraising the present World Bank project. We would like the investigation to include the general condition of PAPs in all three projects of NTPC in Singrauli for which the WB is largely responsible and for whom adequate and appropriate R&R has been denied. The NTPC Power Generation Project covers mitigation of social and environmental impacts in the old NTPC projects through remedial action plans based on socio-economic surveys.

16. The World Bank must share a major responsibility for causing hardship and further impoverisation of the PAPs affected by ash dike of Rihand and Vindhyachal. Like a majority of people of Singrauli, the villagers affected by ash dikes have a history of displacement and will always be at high risk of displacement wherever they would resettle. In the absence of a proper R&R package many of them are being pushed by circumstances to encroach forest lands where they will inevitably face further harassment.

IV. Borrower Habitual offender

17. In the first project of NTPC viz Singrauli, financed by WB, the PAPs were given a very raw deal. Rehabilitation was never a part of the project SAR, budget and time schedule. The resettlement was left to the last minute when construction had already begun and demeaning ways were used to drive them out. The approach in the present funding remains the same, rhetoric and fancy reports/magazines and other expensive publicity materials on R&R notwithstanding. The PAPs of the first NTPC project i.e. Singruali power project were displaced in 1978 but remain to be resettled properly. They are at a high risk of further displacement because the site where they were relocated in 1978 is adjacent to the Coal Handling Plant (CHP) of Khadia coal mine of NCL speedily under construction. The people of this resettlement site in late 80s had valiantly fought an attempt to dump them elsewhere because a part of the land on which they had been resettled was in a non-transparent transaction, sold out by NTPC to NCL at a phenomenal price. Whereas NTPC had paid only Rs 4500 per acre to PAPs of Singrauli project it sold off the land to NCL at nine times the price paid to people. This tendency on part of corporations and government agencies to make money on lands acquired cheaply from PAPs is very common.

18. The PAPs of Singrauli power project would, however, be compelled to leave once the CHP is complete. The people are at present divided and burdened with the struggle for survival and do not realise the real danger ahead. The WB despite the knowledge of their precarious situation did not act. The general approach is that once the civil works finish the people will be forced to leave. Eg. the Rihand management is at present planning to force the people affected by expansions to abandon their land by dumping flyash on those lands. The Bank failed to take account of the failure of the past projects and approved the current loan without adequate safeguards that the sordid history would not be repeated.

V. Destroyed Livelihoods

19. While the most critical issue has been that of livelihood this has remained fundamentally unaddressed in Singrauli. Promise of jobs were made to all, but jobs were given only to a few most of whom were the socially and economically influential. This has been the case in all the three projects of NTPC (Singrauli, Rihand, Vindhyachal). People were interviewed, sometimes repeatedly in case of Vindhyachal, but were not given jobs. All that was offered were casual jobs with contractors, petty contracts, training for setting up income generation ventures again with false promises of assistance with capital. Eg. the PAPs in Vindhyachal were asked to form committees if they wanted petty contracts. Once they formed committees only a few were given contract. The next precondition was that they should form cooperatives. The option of self employment is being projected as the best for people by NTPC and the Bank even though an internal memorandum of WB ridiculed this as a meaningful option. Land was not given as alternative mode of livelihood. People were resettled on sites based on an urban pattern of residence completely unsuited to the people from rural and tribal background. People were not given a genuine option of maintaining their agricultural lifestyle. The compensation was given in the form of money to a community which had little experience of handling monetary transactions. Even this money was inadequate to reestablish their former living standards or to purchase replacement land and rebuild lost assets. The WB policy on involuntary resettlement recognises the insufficiency of cash compensation particularly in situations such as Singrauli. The policy stresses the importance of land based compensation schemes, even in areas with a high population density. The pattern of resettlement in Singrauli runs completely counter to the WB policy on resettlement. The pathetic condition of many people even after 12 years of moving out, says it all. People have not been able to build their homes to their satisfaction, much less to re-acquire the lost assets. Living next to well-equipped and affluent townships of NTPC the younger generation aspired to live the same kind of life but without adequate means. It is no great surprise that many spent their compensation money on consumerables like motor cycles, radio etc. It is strange that the reality of overall degradation of quality of life so obvious to even a casual observer is not acknowledged by visiting World Bank missions who have instead given clean chits to NTPC and arguing in their defence.

20. Land use pattern in Singrauli has changed drastically so has ownership of livestock and milch cattle. The nutrition standards and income from these sources has been drastically affected. The skills and tools of production relevant to the agricultural- rural set up have become irrelevant for most people years after displacement. Worst of all the projects have destroyed the thinking of the people where most youngsters have developed an apathy for agriculture. Promise of jobs has been used as a strategy in all the three projects to get physical possession of their land especially when there was stiff resistance. And when verbal assurances did not work then the patent method was to seek the 'cooperation' of state machinery, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to drive out the PAPs. This continues to be the strategy to this day. Eg. a PAP affected by Rihand I belonging to a socially depressed community was bluffed and taken to the police station while his house was being bulldozed in 1992. Many people who struggled valiantly had to give in after being manhandled by the police and CISF. It is in this background of a sordid history of resettlement and continuous violation of WB policy directions that the current WB project and the situation of the claimants has to be seen.

VI. Rehabilitation in Current Loan

21. The rehabilitation of villagers affected by expansion under the current loan brings home the point that while thousands affected by earlier stages of NTPC projects in Singrauli remain to be rehabilitated even the rehabilitation of little over 500 families in the ashdyke areas could not be planned and implemented after taking into account lessons from past experience.

22. The people affected by the expansion of power plants face displacement for second time, the first was because of the 'deluge' caused by Rihand hydro power project. They were somehow able to overcome the trauma of the 60s because the then UP Government, had permitted the oustees of Rihand dam (about hundred and fifty thousand) to resettle any where they could find a place of their choice. While many of them moved out to far off locations, the others decided to resettle on the banks of the reservoir. Another factor which governed their decision in 1960 was that they could be close to the banks of the reservoir which meant they had access to water for irrigation. In addition the land of reservoir which was periodically released from submergence was also used to reap the winter crop. In this way they slowly overcame the shock and rebuilt their shattered lives making good some of the loss. There was a lot of exchange of population at the time of Rihand dam. Some people tried resettling in several places before resettling at the present location.

23. But now when they are being forcibly dispossessed because of construction of ash dike the people are full of bitterness. They are being neither given the promised job nor land nor the replacement value of their assets. The people of several villages affected by the ash dikes for Vindhyachal project in M.P. and Rihand project in U.P. are facing immediate threat of being dispossessed. Their repeated efforts to draw the attention of the Bank did not yield satisfactory response.

VII. Rights and Interests

24. First and foremost the people of Singrauli have a right to be treated as human beings. They have a right to a livelihood that enables them to live with dignity and self-reliance. They have a right to timely information about the project, and the manner in which it would affect their lives. They have right to participate in the planning of the projects that will so dramatically affect them.They have a right to a life without fear of being deprived again and again for the sake of abstract "public interest" which is not defined in a democratic way. They have right to make choice about their future, a right to be consulted about their future. They have right to benefit from the project. They have right to voice their opinions and negotiate for fair compensation without being assaulted, insulted, intimidated and driven from their lands. Their interest lies in being treated as a community and not as 'disparate' individuals - a community sharing common resources, relationships of mutual support, a culture and a way of life and common interests and concerns. They have a right to information about World Bank directives and procedures. None of the above rights and interests were ever acknowledged much less respected under the present project.

VIII. World Bank Directives/Procedures Violated

a) Involuntary Resettlement : Land Acquisition, Compensation and Rehabilitation OD 4.30 b) Environmental Assessment OD 4.01 c) WB Policies on Supervision Directive 13.05 d) OD 4.20 on Indigenous peoples e) OD 10.04 - Economic Evaluation of Investment Operations

IX. Violation of its Own Policies and Procedures by the Bank

25. According to OD 10.04 para 3 consideration of alternatives is one of the most important features of proper project analysis throughout the project cycle. Considering the unmitigated adverse social and environmental effects of past investments in the Singrauli region, the present project did not adequately examine the sustainable alternatives. Energy options based on demand side measures and renewable sources are not only more sustainable, financially and environmentally, but in Indian context would have helped in avoiding in-voluntary resettlement. Such options were not analysed by the World Bank while appraising the 1993 NTPC project. Nor did the economic analysis of the NTPC 1993 project examine its consistency with Bank s poverty reduction strategy. The fact that the expansions envisaged under the current project would further impoverise the communities affected by it, contradicts the Bank s OD 10.04.

26. The Bank guidelines OD 4.30 require that involuntary resettlement must be avoided in the projects. However, there is no evidence that any attempt was made at any stage to avoid displacement. When the Borrower had failed to resettle PAPs of Rihand and Vindhyachal Stage I even after 12 years the Bank should have stopped further displacement. Disrupting the people of Singrauli again before ensuring that past displacements had been adequately mitigated is dangerous and is leading to further impoverishment of the people of the region. Basic amenities like water, drainage, electricity, roads, pavements, health services had not been provided adequately in the resettlement sites in the last several years. In fact, facilities are created on the same pattern without examining their usefulness to the community, and without consulting the people who would be using them. The infrastructure created is often an occasion for contractors to make profits by using substandard equipments and materials. Compensation money remains to be paid even after 12 years of displacement. Not all the people displaced during the earlier stages had been provided with an alternative livelihood with which they could have regained their former living standards, a requirement of WB guidelines. Eg. only 125 people out of thousands affected in first stage of Rihand project (mostly the well to do and influential) were given permanent jobs the rest were left to fend for themselves or to rely on unstable, unviable options like contract labour, income generating projects and temporary work given and withdrawn at the will of the Borrower.

To continue reading the Singrauli Claim click here