People power takes on thermal power

This week, people affected by thermal power plants shared their experiences with those who are likely to be affected by similar projects in the future. So, there were people from Jaigarh in Ratnagiri where a 1,200MW Jindal plant is coming up, Alibaug in Raigarh where a 4,000MW ‘ultra-mega’ Reliance project is taking shape and Devgad in Sindhudurg where work on National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) 4,000MW plant is on.  All of these are coal-fired, except the Alibaug plant which is partly gas-fuelled.

Shepherded by environmental groups like Greenpeace, Dahanu Taluka Environmental Welfare Association and energy conservation activists, these individuals gathered around 120km from Mumbai in a mild-mannered town called Gholwad near Dahanu, hoping to chart a plan to take on what they call the “bully power corporations”. It was like a tutorial in little revolutions. Social activists from Prayas explained fine points of the energy scenario and touched on organising peoples’ resistance. Kalpavriksh members deconstructed the Environmental Impact Assessment notification for villagers and spoke about the way public hearings are conducted and hijacked. Greenpeace widened the canvass to global warming.

For Sanjiv Velankar, all that made a lot of sense. In his native Devgad, NTPC wants to first build a jetty, which will serve as the windpipe for its project. While Velankar believes the jetty will upset marine fauna and affect fishermen, he says the coal-fired power plant will reduce the alphonso paradise to ashes.

The land that the plant is supposed to be erected upon had already been sanctioned for afforestation and now hosts mango plantations. Velankar’s concern for mangoes seems a trifle exaggerated till he dropped the bomb-Devgad made about Rs400crore from mangoes each year. He recounts his visit to the Eklahare plant near Nashik. “There was ash everywhere-on the houses, in farms, on the utensils and even in the water,” he says. Velankar isn’t the best of storytellers, but his story is convincing. Most in the audience have heard of the horrors of the ash. One man has, however, seen it first-hand.

Kashinath Machi from Asangaon says he has been a victim of greater common good. A thermal power project in the area swallowed the land all around him, virtually smothering the local community. Machi recounts the stir that began in 1999. The energy plant coughed out ash which settled all over the area. Ash is a by-product of coal-fed thermal power plants. Indian coal is particularly notorious and turns out large amounts of ash. This ash is then dumped in vast areas of land around the plant resulting in a desert-like expanse. In Asangaon, the ash has laid a shroud over the rice and corn crops, Machi claims. Protests by him and others have, in fact, invited police complaints against them.

Machi is clearly not used to addressing gatherings, however, meagre. As he speaks, there is little eye contact and his hands shiver. For a long time, the local people actually believed that their corporator would help them fight an aggressive congolomerate. What’s more, they even felt shocked and betrayed when their leaders “sold out”. After him, Meena Dhodade, a woman sarpanch from Palghar who led a dramatic protest against a proposed BSES plant there complete with songs and slogans, narrated how she later realised that most of her supporters had been converted either by the carrot or the stick.

Girish Sant of Prayas, an NGO working on power sectors reforms, questioned the need for such massive projects. Armed with a power-point presentation, he demonstrated how a huge chunk of Maharashtra’s demand could be met by smarter energy conservation. Neeraj Vagholikar of Kalpavriksha, Pune, interpreted the latest Environmental Impact Assessment Notification for the assembly. Of particular interest was the bit about the conduct of public hearings, and how these can be hijacked by local political groups.

And then, things attained magical resolution right at the end. Sanjiv Velankar’s crusade against the jetty received a small but critical fillip. “If I am not wrong, your region has been marked as a marine sanctuary. You could use that clause to stave off the jetty,” says Poornima Mehra of Palghar, a person affected by a similar project. And that’s exactly what the gathering had set out to achieve. It was a real-life variant of internet’s peer-to-peer network. Some left with answers, others with hope, and almost everyone with a resolve. Greenpeace activist Ananda Lee Tan quoted sociologist Ivan Illich, “The way to change is neither revolution nor reformation. If you wish to change society, you must tell an alternative story.”

Looking back at Dahanu

Shweta Karnik

Proposals to set up a coal fired thermal power plant in Dahanu in 1986 met with fierce opposition from local people and orchard owners. Alarmed by the possible adverse effects on the region, residents and farmers got together to campaign against the setting up of the plant in Dahanu. Several state and central government committees were appointed to ascertain the viability of Dahanu as a potential site for a fossil fuel-based plant. All these committees gave a negative verdict on Dahanu as a proposed site for the plant citing environmental and livelihood concerns on the predominantly agrarian and tribal profile of the region.

In spite of the findings of its own committees, the ministry of environment and forests permitted the company, then owned by the Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) Company Pvt Ltd, to set up a 500 MW thermal power plant. The clearance was, however, a conditional one 'to minimise pollution caused by the plant and to protect Dahanu Taluka'. The Dahanu Taluka Environmental Welfare Association (DTEWA) appealed to the Bombay High Court against the permission granted. But they lost the case, with the court citing the necessity for energy to power Mumbai city. The BSES, however, didn't follow the conditions and set up the plant on 851.23 hectares of wetlands between the Dandi and Savta creek in 1991. After protests by environmentalists, headed by the DTEWA, the environment ministry sent its scientific advisor to look into the matter.

The environmentalists filed a comprehensive writ petition in the Supreme Court in 1994. The SC appointed the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute to investigate. Based on the report, the SC directed the setting up of a special authority to oversee the development of Dahanu Taluka. In June 2005, the Bombay HC lowered the amount of the bank guarantee from Rs300 to Rs100 crore. A deadline of October 2007 was accepted by all as being the final time schedule for the installation of the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) Plant.