Publication - December 10, 2012
Greenpeace obtained the minutes of 20 of 28 meetings of the High Powered Committee held between 2003 and January 2011 through the Right to Information Act of 2005.
The committee is constituted of Ministers of various departments namely Water Resources, Agriculture, Water supply and Sanitation, Finance, Industry and chaired by the Water Resources Minister of Maharashtra. During the 8 years of its operation, the committee diverted large quantities of water from irrigation purposes to the proposed thermal power plants, depriving farmland from irrigation. As the minutes of all meetings were not accessible, the list may not be exhaustive. The minutes are sorted out as those which had decisions regarding Vidarbha and those which had decisions about the rest of Maharashtra for convenience.
High Powered Committee Meeting Minutes- including Vidarbha Diversions