Skip to main content

People not given necessary documents, environmental hearing for Vadodara-Mumbai expressway "illegal"

By Our Representative
Raising strong objection to the Environmental Public Hearing (EPH) proposed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in five Gujarat districts -- Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara -- to be held between February 18 and 28 for constructing the Express Highway between Vadodara and Mumbai, senior Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS) activist Krishnakant has said in a letter to M Veeerappa Moily, Union minister for forests and environment, that it is being carried out in violation of the basic norms of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006.
The letter, whose copy has been sent to senior Indian and Gujarat government officials and district collectors, who happen to be chairmen of the proposed EPH, says, the EPH will not be held transparently and should therefore be suspended. Currently, the dedicated Express Highway runs between Ahmedabad and Vadodara, and its construction up to Mumbai has been delayed because of failure to acquire land for it.
The letter says, “As per the EIA notification of 2006 the authorities conducting the EPH have to make available along with hard copies of the EIA report soft copy of the EIA report on the website. However, the soft copies, put up on the website of Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) are scanned copies of badly photocopied EIA report.”
It points out, “The summarised copy of the EIA translated into vernacular language has many characters missing in the electronic copy. This effectively makes the summary the only document provided in vernacular language that most of the people understand, unreadable. The authorities seem to have taken the process of law very casually, encouraging contempt of the due processes to be followed.”
It further says, “The EIA consultants for the said project M/s Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. (ICTPL) deemed to have overlooked the EIA notification 2006 and the guidelines for the same, which prescribe that under the ‘Disclosure by the Consultant’ a copy of the certificate awarded by QCI-NABET has to be duly annexed. Hence it is not clear whether the said consultant was awarded the certification for which period and with what terms and conditions.”
It underlines, “We are really shocked that how come this casual approach of NHAI towards the procedure mandated under the Law is being entertained and under what circumstances. concerned authority has given go ahead for conducting EPH with such basic norms being overlooked and violated in such a matter of grave concern.”
Based on this, the senior environmentalist demands:
· The concerned authority should immediately reject the EIA of NHAI for Vadodara- Mumbai Expressway prepared by ICTPL.
· The concerned authority should immediately cancel the EPH.
· A colour copy of the EIA be provided in print, and also a soft copy.
· The soft copy uploaded on the website of the GPCB be immediately corrected and an original soft copy be uploaded.
· Investigative process be initiated against the responsible for entertaining such casual approach of NHAI and violation of the environmental law and its due process.
· Reschedule the EPH accordingly.

Paryavaran Mitra writes to Gujarat Pollution Control Board against hearing

Mahesh Pandya of Paryavaran Mitra in a separate letter to Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) member-secretary Hardik Shah, has said that the upcoming project of National Highway Authority of India (Vadodara - Mumbai Expressway) public hearing of which is scheduled in last week of February 2014 is being held without necessary copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the expressway project being made available to the people the six districts where it is proposed.
"I would like to draw your attention to an important aspect of public hearing which is demonstrated in Appendix IV, Procedure for Conduct of Public Hearing, 2.2 of EIA Notification 2006, which says the applicant shall arrange to forward copies, one hard and one soft, of the draft EIA Report along with the Summary EIA report to District Magistrate/s, Zila Parishad or Municipal Corporation, District Industries Office, concerned Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests", the letter says.
It adds, "The public notice was published by the GPCB for public hearing of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for Surat district dated January 20, 2014, in which it was mentioned that the draft EIA reports of the NHAI project has been sent to the offices of district collector, district development office, district industry centre, taluka development office, regional office of GPCB of Surat district and will be available for inspection during office hours."
However, he pointed out, "on January 28 and 29, 2014, i.e. after more than a week of the publication of the public notice, we sent our representative to all these offices to know the availability of the report." The representatives found that  in the Bharuch district collector's office, the copy of the report "was not  available" and the "representative was directed to other offices like the record department, the registry department etc, but in all of them they were told that they did not keep these reports." 
Then the representative went to the district industries centre (DIC), Bharuch, where he was again told that the "copy" of the report was not available, and that since it was a "a big project and people could make misuse of it, they did not keep it." The representative was directed to approach the project proponent for the report. As for the district development office (DDO), again, the copy was not available, and the representative was told that "the report would be made available only one or two weeks before public hearing." In fact, the DDO's office was "reluctant to accept written application for the copy."
In Surat, the report was, again, available in the district collector's office and the DDO's office, and the representative was told to approach the "revenue branch or take it from the project proponent." Only the DIC had a copy of the report. Pandya demanded, "Since the villagers do not have access to the draft EIA report based on which they can obtain information about the project and ask questions in the public hearing, appropriate action should be taken." Pandya also raised objection to the poor, unreadable quality of the EIA report put on the GPCB website.
(Also see Falguni Joshi's letter to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) on the EIA report. Click HERE)

Comments

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

'Pro-corporate agenda': Odisha crackdown on tribal slum dwellers fighting for land rights

By Our Representative  The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning what it calls “brutal repression” on the Adivasi slum dwellers of Salia Sahi in Bhubaneshwar by the Odisha police, has said that the crackdown was against the tribals struggling for land rights in order to “stop the attempts at land-grab by the government.”

Deplorable, influential sections 'still believe' burning coal is essential indefinitely

By Shankar Sharma*  Some of the recent developments in the power sector, as some  recent news items show, should be of massive relevance/ interest to our policy makers in India. Assuming that our authorities are officially mandated/ committed to maintain a holistic approach to the overall welfare of all sections of our society, including the flora, fauna and general environment, these developments/ experiences from different parts of the globe should be clear pointers to the sustainable energy pathways for our people.