Dholera SIR public hearing held "without hearing all sides", was therefore "illegal": Environmentalists

Two environmental groups, Paryavaran Mitra and Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), have written separate letters to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and the Union environment and forests secretary, respectively, saying that the environmental public hearing (EPH) held for the proposed Dholera special investment region (SIR) at Dholera on January 3, 2014, should be declared null and void, as it violated the Environmental Impact Assessment notification of 2006. The SIR is proposed as a modern industrial township on about 900 sq km land in the south of Ahmedabad city, next to the Gulf of Khambhat.
Writing for Paryavaran Mitra, its director Mahesh Pandya said, the EPH, which he and his team had attended, was not just “erroneous” but was riddled with a “with serious anomaly.” He said, “As per EIA notification 2006, appendix IV, Procedure for Conduct of Public Hearing, section 6.0 of Proceedings, ‘The summary of the public hearing proceedings accurately reflecting all the views and concerns expressed shall be recorded by the representative of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) or the Union Territory Pollution Control Committee (UTPCC) and read over to the audience at the end of the proceedings explaining the contents in the vernacular language’.”
Based on this, Pandya insisted, “This public hearing was put to end without reading the summary. Thus, this public hearing is incomplete and there is a clear violation of the EIA notification 2006. I request you to cancel the public hearing and take appropriate action.”

Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti's representation

In a separate letter to the secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, copies of which were send to the chairman of the GPCB, and chairman of the Environment Public Hearing Committee of Ahmedabad district (who happens to be the district collector), among others, calling the EPH as having “blatantly violated the EIA notification dated 14, September 2006”, PSS’ Rohit Prajapati also said, “January 2, 2014 we demanded the cancellation of the EPH scheduled on January 3, 2014 and submitted the details of prima facie inaccuracies in the present EIA report and unconstitutionality of EPH.” This did not happen, as there were efforts to stop a section of farmers to speak their mind at the EPH.
Saying that the PSS’ “representation was completely bypassed and ignored during the environment public hearing dated January 3, 2014 of Dholera SIR”, Prajapati quoted the Appendix IV: Procedure for Conduct of Public Hearing, section 6.0 (6.4) of the EIA notification, which states, “Every person present at the venue shall be granted the opportunity to seek information or clarifications on the project from the applicant.”
The notification also says, “The summary of the public hearing proceedings accurately reflecting all the views and concerns expressed shall be recorded by the representative of the SPCB or UTPCC and read over to the audience at the end of the proceedings explaining the contents in the vernacular language and the agreed minutes shall be signed by the District Magistrate or his or her representative on the same day and forwarded to the SPCB/UTPCC concerned.”
Based on this, Prajapati said, “The public hearing was ended abruptly by the chairperson and the regional officer of the GPCB, Ahmedabad (rural) of Environment Public Hearing Committee and at the end of the public hearing summary of the public hearing proceedings was not read, approved before the audience, which clearly violate the Appendix IV, 6.0 (6.4) of the EIA notification dated 14 September 2006”. Hence he asked for cancellation of the EPH, calling it “illegal and unconstitutional”, saying, action be taken “against the chairperson and regional officer of GPCB, Ahmedabad (rural) of Environment Public Hearing Committee” for the lapse.

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