The Hindu Business Line : Stormy public hearing over Jindal project

POLICE PREVENT FARMERS from Sabbavarm mandal from entering VUDA Children's Theatre in Visakhapatnam, venue of public hearing on Jindal aluminium plant on Tuesday. - K.R. Deepak

Visakhapatnam , Nov. 28

The public hearing on the proposed 1.4 MTPA Jindal alumina refinery project in the Sabbavaram mandal of Visakhapatnam district turned out to be a stormy one here in the VUDA children's auditorium on Tuesday, with several agitating Left parties' workers being forcibly removed by the police from the spot.

Vimta Labs prepared the environment impact assessment (EIA) report, according to which the plant is "going to incorporate the latest technology with many environmental control measures. No groundwater resources will be tapped for the main refinery plant or the 71-MW captive co-generation power plant near Vangali village in Sabbavaram mandal."

Mr E. Shyam Sundar, Associate Vice-President of Vimta Labs Ltd, explained that wastewater would be treated, recycled and reused in the plant itself. All the treated effluents would also be reused and it would be a "zero discharge plant".

Geo-textile lining for red mud pond and ash pond would be provided to eliminate the possibility of groundwater contamination and a 50-metre green belt would be provided all along the plant boundary.

The residents of the four surrounding villages need not worry over the plant, he assured the audience. He said the company would spend Rs 88 crore on pollution control measures.

From then on, the hearing continued in a turbulent atmosphere and there was an uproar when a district CPM leader, Mr Suryanarayana, was prevented from speaking by some people. Mr S.K Sultania, Joint Collector, had a difficult time controlling the proceedings.

Many representatives from the four villages, while extending support to the project, wanted proper rehabilitation and relief for the farmers to be displaced. The project would require 1,700 acres of land which, according to revenue records, belongs to the Government, but the farmers contended that they had been cultivating it for more than two decades and, though they did not have ownership rights, they were entitled to compensation. The Joint Collector assured them that their petition would be considered.

Mr Rebbapragada Ravi, Executive Director of Samatha, an NGO here opposing the project, pointed out that the information provided to the farmers and others was sketchy and superficial and not sufficient to take an informed decision. The EIA conducted was a rapid one and therefore a proper, four-seasons EIA should be conducted before conducting the hearing, he pleaded.

Further, within the 1,700 acres identified for the project, there were many water bodies which would be contaminated. There was also reserve forest in the vicinity of the project site, and he wanted to know if the permission of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment had been obtained.

The bland statement made by the company that groundwater resources would not be used was not at all satisfactory, and he wanted to know if the water meant for Vizag would be diverted to the project through the Yeleru canal. He also felt that the hearing should have been conducted at Sabbavaram village instead of Vizag.

Dr T. Patanjali Sastry, of the Centre for Environment, Rajahmundry, made several attempts to express his views, but he could not get a chance in the melee.

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