JSPL Orissa facing allegations of environmental law breach

The Pioneer reported that after POSCO and Vedanta, it is now the turn of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd to face serious allegations in Odisha for violating the forest rights Act and environment clearance norms.

It has been alleged that in violation of the ministry of environment and Forests specific permission to draw water only from Brahmani River at Samal Barrage, JSPL has been illegally drawing groundwater. The lowering water table has severely affected the nearby elephant habitat, leading to an increase in the incidents of man animal conflict in nearby villages.

Mr Biswajit Mohanty environmentalist also the secretary of Wildlife Society of Orissa has written to environment minister Mr Jairam Ramesh and called for the withdrawal of environmental clearance for brazen flouting of the specific condition agreed upon with the MoEF. Alleging connivance of the State Government, he said officers who failed to inform the MoEF of the violations must be brought to book.

Mr Mohanty has told the minister that construction of such a huge steel plant involved use of large quantities of water required for casting and curing of concrete foundations for machinery, offices, residential quarters, boundary wall, compaction of roads, development of green belt plantation etc.

He also pointed to condition number of the environment clearance of MoEF granted to Jindal in 2007. Mr Mohanty said that “Total requirement of the water to be drawn from Brahmani river/Samal Barrage shall not exceed 14,700 cubic metre/hour. Permission has been accorded for the withdrawal of 7,000 m/hour water for Phase I by the Department of Water Resources, Govt of Orissa, vide letter dated December 11th 2006.”

As per the MoEF condition, the company has not yet completed its pipeline from the Brahmani/Samal Barrage to the plant site for sourcing the water. But it has been carrying on civil construction…site development by digging nearly 150-200 bore wells within the plant site, from where water is being pumped out. As a result, there has been a drastic reduction in the water level at nearby reservoirs, including the Derjang Medium Irrigation Project.

Besides creating irrigation problems in the nearby villages, the drastic reduction in water level has affected the wildlife. The letter states that the area adjacent to the plant site is an elephant habitat, which is used by pachyderms while migrating from Sarkosia Tiger Reserve to Chendipada and Pallahra forest, on their way to Keonjhar forest.

As a result of the water crisis, the jumbos are straying into local villages, leading to a raging man elephant conflict in the area for two years now.

The company is setting up an integrated steel plant at Badkerjang in Angul district with 6 million tonne per annum capacity and a 1,000 MW captive plant at an investment of INR 10,000 crore.

(Sourced from www.dailypioneer.com)