**"Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel - Part I - 16. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts -

Opinion
    07/10/2018
              1449

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**"Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel - Part I - 16. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts -

Ref :-

16. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts :-

The Panel has been asked to suggest an appropriate course of further development of mining, power production and polluting industries in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra. This entire region has been seriously impacted, both environmentally and socially by a number of mining, power projects, and polluting industries. The impacts are manifold; depletion and pollution of ground water, siltation of water bodies, increased flood frequencies, loss of fertile agricultural land, depletion of fisheries, deforestation, loss of unique biodiversity elements such as herbaceous plants of lateritic plateaus, air pollution, noise pollution, traffic congestion and accidents, increase in respiratory ailments, and so on. The situation clearly warrants a careful assessment and mid-course correction.

The problem is not just legal, but substantial levels of illegal activities. For instance, many farmers complain of miners muscling their way onto private land and digging pits. Pollution from many industries is also well above legally permissible limits. Consequently, there is much social discord, especially because people firmly believe that the law and order machinery is being misused to protect illegal activities.

16.1 Assignment of levels of ecological sensitivity

Only a portion of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts comes under Western Ghats and has been assigned to ESZ1, ESZ2 and ESZ3 categories on the basis of WGEEP database. A group of scientists and activists associated with the Development Research, Awareness & Action Institute (DEVRAAI), Kolhapur has been working in close collaboration with WGEEP, and has submitted a proposal for the constitution of ‚Maharashtra Sahyadri Ecologically Sensitive Area (MAHASESA)‛. This group has at its disposal extensive data culled from a number of research projects and student dissertations undertaken at Shivaji University, and using this material, as well as fresh field work, this group has assigned ESZ1, ESZ2 and ESZ3 categories for some areas falling in Satara, Sangli, Kolhpur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts following WGEEP methodology. Hence for the areas thus covered by DEVRAAI for Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, WGEEP has decided to accept their assignments of levels of Ecological Sensitivity. Indeed, the proposed Western Ghats Ecology Authority should promote such exercises throughout the Western Ghats region.

16.2 Deficit in environmental governance

WGEEP’s extensive field visits and consultations with Government officials, industry representatives, elected officials of Panchayat Raj institutions, state legislature and members of parliament, scientific and technical experts, as well as citizen groups representing farmers, herders, fisherfolk, artisans, industrial and farm labourers all point to a grave deficit in environmental governance.

Consider, as an example, ZASI. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has sponsored the preparation of these Zoning Atlases for Siting of Industries (ZASI) by Central and State Pollution Control Boards with substantial financial and technical help from German Donors. It has generated a spatial database for all the districts of the country, mapping existing pollution levels and environmentally and socially sensitive areas, delineating zones where it would be undesirable to add further pollution loads, and suggesting locations where industries with different levels of potential air and water pollution impacts may be set up without undue environmental risks. Clearly, this is a valuable exercise, although it has some limitations, and has potential of promoting environmentally and socially sustainable development. Apparently under unfair pressure, the Ministry of Environment and Forestshas suppressed making this exercise fully public. As a result, the Ratnagiri ZASI has not been released at all, and a copy was obtained by WGEEP only after much effort. Despite repeated requests, ZASI reports for other Western Ghats districts have not been made available to WGEEP. The Ministry of Environment and Forests must obviously expeditiously put all these documents in the public domain. A perusal of the Ratnagiri ZASI reveals that today industries are being located without due regard to clear cut prescriptions of ZASI. Such decisions clearly require to be reviewed.

Maharashtra Government has prepared a Regional Plan for Ratnagiri and Sindhudrg districts emphasizing the natural endowments and strengths of these districts, and prescribing land use priorities. However, these prescriptions are being comprehensively violated in current practice. Such decisions ought to be reviewed.

Current environmental clearance processes are seriously defective. The EIAs are particularly weak in the sections on biodiversity and socio-economic issues. For instance, they commonly dismiss as barren land, the ‘sadas’ or the wind swept lateritic plateaus of the Western Ghats with stunted tree growth. These plateaus are very rich in biodiversity. In fact, Dr Sanjappa, former Director, Botanical Survey of India states that these plateaus are, for their size, the country’s richest repository of endemic plant species. There are other important environmental resources that are ignored, such as bivalve production on tidal mudflats. A recent study in Aghanashini estuary of Uttara Kannada district just to the south of Goa has revealed that the annual value of this production was Rs. 5.6 crores.

The EIA process leaves out of consideration many pertinent issues. For example, transmission lines emanating from power projects have significant impacts on mango and cashew orchards, as well as forests on Western Ghats; such impacts are ignored. Similarly transport of ore by trucks on roads and by barges on rivers and ships on sea all have significant environmental and social impacts that have never been considered.

The inputs made available during the Public Hearings process are often simply ignored, leading to high levels of social frustration and discord. For instance, in Kalane village in Sindhudurg, the first Public hearing relating to the mine was held on 20-9-2008. At this time, the Marathi EIA was not available and therefore the hearing was postponed. The public hearing was once again held on 11-10-2008, after the Marathi EIA was made available. At this hearing, the unanimous resolution of the Gram Panchayat dated 6-8-2008 opposing mining was submitted and several objections were raised: 1) Pollution of Kalane river and adverse impact on water supply scheme on this river at Chandel in Goa. 2) Adverse impact on horticulture dependent on natural water sources in Kalane. The villagers were not provided summary minutes during the public hearing. These summary minutes were made available only after 57 days. Despite the unanimous rejection of the mining proposal, the Government of Maharashtra has gone ahead and accorded Environmental Clearance to the mine on 17th March 2009. In the absence of any transparent, participatory monitoring process, the conditions imposed while according Environmental Clearance are routinely violated. Indeed, the absence of any transparent, participatory process of environmental monitoring is a burning issue. Ratnagiri district has been an epicentre of environment related agitations in recent years.

India’s Biological Diversity Act, 2002, provides for establishment of Biological Diversity Management Committees (BMC) involving local community members at Gram, Taluka, Zilla Panchayat, as well as at Municipal levels. These BMCs have the responsibility of documenting local biodiversity resources, and the authority to regulate their harvests, and levy collection charges for permitted uses. Such BMCs could provide a meaningful public forum and play a significant role in local level environmental management and monitoring. Unfortunately, no step has been taken to implement the Biological Diversity Act in the state of Maharashtra, and the implementation has been unsatisfactory and restricted to the state level committee in Goa. The BMCs must be immediately activated at all levels, before taking any further decisions.

The on-going and proposed mining, industrial and power project activities are in serious conflict with the traditional economic sectors of agriculture, horticulture and fisheries, and the newer tourism sector on which the lives of a large majority of the people of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg depend. For instance, mangoes are exported in substantial quantities from this region. Recently, the doors of the global export market for the Alphonso Mango have opened through Global GAP certification. These global standards demand that there be no seriously air polluting industries, including coal based power plants in their vicinity. If these come up, and even if it turns out that pollution, such as from thermal power plants, does not harm the orchards, the inevitable loss of export market is bound to hit horticulture hard. Given this very significant social conflict, it is vital that people be fully taken on board in deciding on the course of future economic development.

Huge conflicts have emerged in the context of acquisition of land for various industrial, power and mining projects. Land was acquired from farmers of Jaitapur area by invoking emergency provisions, leading to grave social discord. There are examples of people being misled and being forced to accept activities against their wishes. In Ratnagiri district PTIANA now plans to set up a coal-based power plant on land people sold on the understanding that it was being purchased to set up an ecotourism resort. Finolex is forcibly closing fishermen’s traditional access to fishing areas. Residents of Tamboli village in Sindhudurg district narrate that they suddenly discovered in 2006 that mining had been entered as ‘other rights’ on their land records without so much as informing them, although this can only be done with their full concurrence. They had to resort to prolonged agitation, including fast unto death in 2007 to have these illegal entries removed. We must clearly evolve systems of meaningful participation by people in deciding on the course of future economic development.

Social discontent is also fuelled by failure to enforce laws such as pollution control. The Common Effluent Treatment Plant at the chemical industry estate at Lote in Ratnagiri district cannot handle the quantity of effluent it is receiving, and its functioning is highly defective. During a visit in October 2010, WGEEP saw large overflows of untreated effluent from the plant going into streams serving Kotavale village. Since the situation is not being brought under control, the Sarpanch of Kotavale attempted to commit suicide by drinking the polluted stream water. He was rushed to Mumbai and saved, but there has been no abatement of pollution affecting Kotavale. Also, in 2000, around 30 school children near Lote MIDC became unconscious due to inhalation of poisonous gases. The company involved took no notice, and did not come forward to take children to the hospital. People also reported that solid toxic sludge from industries was mixed with soil and dumped in the ghat (a steep hill road) area. Very recently, some party has dumped toxic wastes via a tanker in the Boraj Dam which is the source of water supply to Khed town. The town water supply had to be stopped for several weeks, but nobody has been brought to book. There has been significant decline in fish landings from Dabhol creek due to chemical pollution from Lote, and severe loss of employment opportunities for members of fishing communities.

With all these problems persisting all that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board has done seems to be to transfer the Lote office to far off Chiplun, rendering any chances of effective action even more remote than before. While promises to stop pollution go unfulfilled, protests and demonstrations are routinely suppressed by invoking the Bombay Police Act 1951 Sec, 37(1)(3) prohibiting gatherings of people. Between 2008–2009, such orders were promulgated in Ratnagiri district for no less than 191 days. With all these persistent and unrectified problems, we were informed by an MIDC officer that they are planning to set up a new Petro-Chemical complex near the existing MIDC area on 550Ha. Obviously, we must evolve systems of meaningful participation by people in deciding on the course of future economic development to ensure that development genuinely benefits society at large, and is not hijacked merely to serve particular vested interests.

While the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian constitution have attempted to empower people at the grass-root level, this is not being translated into practice. For instance, several Gram Panchayats and Panchayat Samitis, including the Ratnagiri Taluka Panchayat Samiti, have specifically passed resolutions relating to environmental issues that are being completely ignored by the state government. We must clearly move towards making grass-roots empowerment of people a reality.

An important act empowering people in hilly, forested tracts like Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg- Goa is the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Rights over Forests) Act (FRA), 2006. Regrettably, the current state of implementation of FRA everywhere, including in Maharashtra, is characterized by a series of serious problems, as set out in great detail in the just completed report of the Saxena Committee set up jointly by MoEF and MoTA.

All the exercises of Environmental Impact Assessment undertaken so far have the serious limitation that they look at various interventions one at a time, ignoring the cumulative impacts. For example, air pollutant emissions from a coal based power plant may be acceptable when looked at individually. But, in certain seasons, emissions from several such power plants may accumulate in some particular basin in a hilly region and considerably exceed the threshold for tolerance. Similarly, ore transport trucks from a single mine may be accommodated on the road without excessive traffic congestion, but those from five mines may exceed the carrying capacity of the roads and lead to intolerable levels of congestion and road accidents. Another key factor that is generally ignored is the continuity of habitats so essential for maintenance of several elements of biodiversity. Again the cumulative effects may be totally unacceptable, although individual impacts may be acceptable. For many such reasons it is essential to look at the cumulative impacts of various industrial, mining, power generation and other activities in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, and the adjoining state of Goa.

16.3 Recommendations :-

Mining, power production and polluting industries :-

The Panel has been asked to suggest an appropriate course of further development of mining, power production and polluting industries in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra. Given the many problems facing these ecologically rich yet fragile districts, it is clear that we must proceed with great care. Only the eastern portions of these districts are covered by the Western Ghats for which WGEEP has completed assignment of Ecologically Sensitive Zones and guidelines for further development projects.

For these Western Ghats regions of the district, the Panel recommends : -

(a) An indefinite moratorium on new environmental clearances for mining in Ecologically Sensitive Zones 1 and 2
(b) A phasing out of mining from ESZ1 by 2016
(c) Continuation of existing mining in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 2 under strict regulation with an effective system of social audit
(d) No new red and orange category industries, which would include coal based power plants, should be permitted to be established in Ecologically Sensitive Zones 1 and 2
(e) The existing red and orange category industries should be asked to switch to zero pollution in Ecologically Sensitive Zones 1 and 2 by 2016, and operated only under an effective system of social audit

Cumulative impact analysis :-

WGEEP has not undertaken any extensive compilation of pertinent information and assignment of levels of ecological sensitivity to the plains and coastal portions of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts falling outside the Western Ghats. Nevertheless, the limited investigations of the Panel in these plains and coastal tracts suggest that these are under severe environmental and social stress, and it is essential that a careful Cumulative Impact Analysis of various development activities in these tracts, ideally in conjunction with Raigad district of Maharashtra and the state of Goa, must be immediately undertaken, preferably under the leadership of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.

This should not be a techno-centric study alone, but should ensure that people’s deep locality-specific knowledge of environmental issues and their development aspirations are taken on board. To this end, the Ministry of Environment and Forests should ask the state Forest Departments to proactively assist the Tribal Welfare Departments in implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Rights over Forests) Act. The implementation of the Community Forest Resources provisions of this act would greatly help create broad-based stakes for people in safeguarding the environment of the region. Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment and Forests should ensure the establishment of Biological Diversity Management Committees in all local bodies in this region, motivate them through empowerment to levy 'collection charges' as provided in the Biological Diversity Act and fund the BMCs to document the local ecological setting and biodiversity resources in collaboration with local educational institutions. This would not only further encourage local community members to engage in taking good care of their own environment, but generate much detailed information of key relevance for the proposed cumulative environmental impact analysis.

Of course a strong scientific institution needs to take overall responsibility of such an exercise and ensure sound scientific and technical inputs. Therefore, as mentioned above, WGEEP recommends that NIO, Goa, be asked to play such a role. The Panel recommends that the current moratorium on new environmental clearances for mining, and red and orange category polluting industries and power plants in the plains and coastal tracts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts should be extended till satisfactory completion of such an analysis of the Carrying Capacity of these districts. The moratorium may then be reviewed in light of the findings of the study.

NEXT : 17. Mining in Goa -

To be continued ....

JAIHIND
VANDEMATHARAM