Monday, July 1, 2013

CITIZENS FRONT FOR WATER DEMOCRACY : PRESS RELEASE


DATED: 1ST JULY 2013

The water activists, trade unions, NGO and RWAs from all over India gathered in Nagpur and constituted a National Platform to fight against water privatization in India. The activists from Delhi, Assam, North East, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Bihar were present in the meeting.

Shri SA Naqvi was elected as the National Coordinator of the NPAWP and Smt. Nirmla Sharma was elected as Regional Coordinator for Northern Zone along with Shri Jammu Anand from west, Shri Rajinder Prabhakar from South, Shri Subrato Chakrabarti from North East, Shri Saurabh from East and Shri Rahamat from Central zone. Shri Raman Kanan, Afsar Jafri, Dr. A.K. Arun, Ms Kiran Shaheen, Pranjal, Gaurav Diwedi, Sanjay Sharma and Vinay Bundur were elected in the National team.

The National Platform will raise voice and initiate people’s moment against water privatization in India. The NPAWP is of the view that real owners of water are communities and governments are only custodians of water. The water privatization is being imposed forcefully on people for ensuring corporate profits.

The activists were of the view that when after the bad experiences of water privatization there is a trend of re-municipalization of water in Europe the only driving force to water privatization in India is corruption.

The NPAWP through a resolution rejected the Y.K. Alagh committee report, draft National Water Frame Work Laws and National Water Policy 2012 and all efforts of comodification of water. Soon NPAWP will initiate mass movement against Government’s undemocratic moves to privatize and commodify people’s water. NPAWP policy statement described as Nagpur declaration has emphasized people’s right to water. NPAWP will raise all issues relating to water like its environmental aspects, ecological concerns, dams, rivers etc and oppose all forms of water commercialization. (copy attached)

NPAWP declared the Uttrakhand disaster as man-made disaster and a result of callus and anti environment policies of Central and State Governments. It passed a resolution opposing such infrastructure development anywhere in India. The new National body will also extend support to movements opposing dams, river diversions or river linking.

The NPAWP has plans to raise a wide spread movement against water privatization in Delhi. It will take the opposition of water privatization to each and every street of Delhi and will educate the people how the PPP projects are influenced by corruption, how Delhi Government ensured the corporate profits and increasing the water tariffs. NPAWP will ask the Political parties, Political candidates and representative their stand on water privatization, corruption in PPP projects, increasing water tariffs and extending benefits to corporate in forthcoming Delhi assembly elections.


S.A. Naqvi
National Coordinator
NPAWP

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