LA PAZ
A violent protest by peasants against rising water prices forced an international water company to withdraw its services from Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city situated at the foot of the Andes.
Six people died in the outrage that gripped that city after the government hiked water rates in order to finance an urgently required expansion of water and sewage system for the region. In the aftermath of the violence, the government was forced to reconsider the expensive water project and a widely disliked new water law.
The contract to administer the city's water and sewage systems was last year won by Aguas del Tunari, a consortium led by London-based International Water Ltd. In order to provide for the expensive water project, Cochabamba's administration had increased water prices by 20 per cent.
This triggered off wide-spread unrest among the peasant population in the rural areas. It at last prompted a security crackdown and the granting of "state of siege' powers to the police and armed forces.
According to the government, the uprising by the peasants
Related Content
- First food: business of taste
- Order of the Supreme Court regarding tree felling in Kancha Gachibowli forest, Telangana, 03/04/2025
- Report by the Delhi Development Authority regarding encroachments along the 22 km stretch of Yamuna flood plains, 02/04/2025
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding encroachment of a waterbody in Gram Panchayat Dadri, district Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, 01/04/2025
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding preservation and rejuvenation of Khokhari river, a rain- fed tributary of river Yamuna at Shamli and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh, 01/04/2025
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding waste management at Bhagtanwala dump, Amritsar, Punjab, 01/04/2025