Lanco public hearing sans affected public

WARDHA: The public hearing on Wednesday by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to hear objections regarding Lanco Vidarbha Thermal Power Limited was held under the shadow of the police force. The event appeared to be stage-managed, with only families of those employed by the plant saying yes to the 1,320MW unit coming up at Mandwa in Wardha district, 90km from Nagpur.
The hearing was held on the directions of the high court after the first hearing on September 17, 2010, ended in chaos and was challenged in court.
"This is an eye wash as 30% of the project has been completed. Work should be stopped till the Supreme Court decides the petition to cancel environment clearance filed by four affected farmers from Pulai. The public hearing should also be termed null and void," said Manoj Manwatkar, whose father Laxman is one of the petitioners.
Interestingly, the hearing was conducted six months after the court order, that too in Wardha, from where the nearest projected affected village is 15km away while the farthest is 50km away. Most farmers are also busy with sowing operations and hence could not make it to the hearing.
The hearing was scheduled at 11am, with over 100 people present at that time. However, the hearing started an hour late. Over 350 policemen were deployed at the spot, including 45 from Nagpur. The MPCB officials at the venue reluctantly accepted written objections from many participants from Nagpur.
Wardha social worker Bhaskar Ithape alleged that MPCB and Lanco officials were hand in glove. Villagers had been taken in company vehicles to the MPCB office in Nagpur to submit written replies supporting the project. But many did not know what was written in the letter.
Farmer UG Patil, whose six-acre farm is 2km away from the project, admitted he did not know what the letter said. "I was asked to sign the letter by my son," Patil said.
The crowd at the event too seemed to have been managed. Many youths had come from Wardha and said they were there on the invitation of some friends working at Lanco in Mandwa.
The MPCB had received around 350 applications, most of them from villagers whose kin were employed by the company. So when their names were called, these persons supported the project. Many were employees themselves. Those who spoke did not even know the details of the issue being discussed.
Gajanan Pachare, Shakuntala Nehare, Aparna Helonde, Gumpha Gawande, Dinkar Thakre, Kisna Bawne and several others said Lanco was fulfilling its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and hence they have no objections.
AT Fulmali, regional officer of MPCB, denied any manipulation. "Those who had submitted applications in writing and their names figured in the list were allowed to speak first. There was no discrimination, everyone was allowed to speak," he said.
Fulmali said the rules said that one has to give objections in writing beforehand, but he had no answer when asked about the rule that hearing should be held near the project site. He only said the venue was fixed by the district collector.
Several youths had come to the hearing with the hope that the project will bring employment. A graduate, Jaiprakash Isankar, said one of friends Pravin Kamble works as assistant storekeeper with Lanco. "I feel the project will bring development and jobs," he said. Nitin Patil, Kamlesh Shivne and Suryakant Ugle echoed his views.
The Rs 6,936 crore Lanco project requires 1,195 acre land and 3,858 cubic meter water per hour from the Lower Wardha Dam project. It will burn 7.5 million tonnes (MT) coal every year.
Dr Vibha Gupta, chairperson of Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti (MSS), Wardha, said temperatures of Wardha have already crossed 47 degrees. Power units would mean disaster. "These units are taking away our land and water, and in return giving us ash. Lanco will take away a lot of water, even as Wardha residents get drinking water every alternate day. The unit will also pollute rivers supplying water to Wardha," Gupta said.
Many farmers criticized the company officials for making fake promises. Sandeep Pakhide said Lanco was to plant 1.75 lakh trees in four years but it has planted not more than a 1,000 trees. Also, most of the saplings have died. He wanted the plant to use the best technology to curb pollution.
SM Mahajan, project head, was non-committal but said environment pollution would be checked with super critical technology and plantation over 290 acre land.
Power sector expert Sudhir Paliwal said Lanco is making tall claims about benefiting several villages, but there are 84 villages in the 10-12km radius around the plant. "What about the welfare of these villages?" he asked.
Some farmers like Subhash Shinde said the plant has increased man-animal conflict. As a compound wall is being constructed around the plant, wild animals like boar and nilgais are entering farms and destroying crops. "But the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) claims there are no wild animals in a radius of 10km around the plant," said Shinde.
Vidarbha Environment Action Group (VEAG) leader Sudhir Paliwal said that since the work is in full swing the public hearing is a farce, and should be cancelled
Orange farmer Vitthal Lokhande from Belgaon said the tall claims of the company were false. The solar lamps installed by it are not working, nor has any green belt been developed as claimed, he pointed out. Farmers' land was acquired with the help of touts, thus depriving farmers of a good price. Now, the powerful lights from the plants will damage the crop, feared Lokhande.