Setback to Essar? Green Tribunal appoints committee to ascertain "destruction" to Gujarat's eco-sensitive zone

By Our Representative
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Pune Bench, has appointed a three-member court commission comprising of three Government of India officials to ascertain the environmental destruction, if any, caused by the Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd to the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, situated in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat.
One of India’s topmost corporate houses, Essar has been setting up what it calls “a world-class marine infrastructure project with a state-of-the-art material handling facility at Salaya”, with the capability of handling 20 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) of cargo. The project is said to cost around Rs 1,000 crore.
Located in Salaya harbour, which is naturally protected by two islands – Kalubhar Tapu and Dhani Be – the jetty would be spread over 320,000 square metres. Its dry bulk facility proposes to handle the import of dry bulk cargo like coal, limestone, fertilisers and bauxite.

Those who will form part of the court commission are – director, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), a senior scientist of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), and director, Marine National Park and Sanctuary, Jamnagar. It has been asked to submit its report before July 26, 2017.
Interpreted as a big jolt to one of India’s most powerful corporate houses, the NGT bench consisting of Justice UD Salvi and Dr Ajay Deshpande in an order said that the “local investigation” should be carried out to ascertain the extent of constructions going on and carried out by Essar.
Especially seeking to know the how much of “soil-bund” had been constructed, the order also wants the team to find out the navigation route as well as location of the constructions in the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, possible impact on the tidal water current, and destruction of mangroves, if any, in and around the Salaya Creek.
The order came in response to an application by the Salaya Fishermen’s Association, which claimed that Essar had undertaken “illegal” constructions by Essar encroaching upon the protected the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, resulting into destruction of mangroves, obstruction to inter-tidal water in Salaya Creek, which is harmful to environment and biodiversity.
The Essar Bulk Terminal, however, said that it did not carry out any illegal construction.
Appearing on behalf of the Salaya Fishermen’s Association, advocate Asim Sarode submitted before the NGT that the notification dated August 22, 2013 declared an area admeasuring 326.26 sq.km around of Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary as ESZ, of which 208.58 sq km was towards landward side, 105.14 sq km towards seaward site, and 12.54 sq km area was covered by rivers.

Hence, Sarode argued, the communication dated April 28, 2014 by the chief conservator of forests, Marine National Park, Jamnagar, was “not a complete disclosure of the facts”, and that the Essar Bulk Terminal had not produced any layout or sanction-plan for the construction of the project.
On examining the letter, NGT decided to ascertain the exact location of the Essar Bulk Terminal where the proposed marine facilities, including conveyor corridor and jetty, were being constructed.
A preliminary examination of the letter suggested that the nearest point of the ESZ from the jetty was just 150 meters, and the distance of 4.6 hectare forest land diverted for the purpose was approximately 1.9 km from the nearest point of national park and sanctuary.

Comments

Gujarat refusal to observe Maulana Azad's birthday as Education Day 'discriminatory'

By Our Representative
The Gujarat government decision not to celebrate the National Education Day on !monday has gone controversial. Civil society organizations have particularly wondered whether the state government is shying away from the occasion, especially against the backdrop of "deteriorating" level of education in Gujarat.

Rushdie, Pamuk, 260 writers tell Modi: Aatish episode casts chill on public discourse

Counterview Desk
As many as 260 writers, journalists, artists, academics and activists across the world, including Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist, Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, and Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet and novelist, have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the decision to strip British Indian writer Aatish Taseer of his overseas Indian citizenship.

Violent 'Ajodhya' campaign in 1840s after British captured Kabul, destroyed Jama Masjid

Counterview Desk Irfan Ahmad, professor at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany, and author of “Islamism and Democracy in India” (Princeton University Press, 2009), short-listed for the 2011 International Convention of Asian Scholars Book Prize for the best study in Social Sciences, in his "initial thoughts" on the Supreme Court judgment on the Babri-Jam Janmaboomi dispute has said, while order was “lawful”, it was also “awful.”

Visually challenged lady seeks appointment with Gujarat CM, is 'unofficially' detained

By Pankti Jog*
It was a usual noon of November 10. I got a phone call on our Right to Information (RTI) helpline No 9924085000 from Ranjanben of Khambhat, narrating her “disgraceful” experience after she had requested for an appointment with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. She wanted to meet Rupani, on tour of the Khambhat area in Central Gujarat as part of his Janvikas Jumbesh (Campaign for Development).

There may have been Buddhist stupa at Babri site during Gupta period: Archeologist

By Rajiv Shah
A top-notch archeologist, Prof Supriya Varma, who served as an observer during the excavation of the Babri Masjid site in early 2000s along with another archeologist, Jaya Menon, has controversially stated that not only was there "no temple under the Babri Masjid”, if one goes “beyond” the 12th century to 4th to 6th century, i.e. the Gupta period, “there seems to be a Buddhist stupa.”

VHP doesn't represent all Hindus, Sunni Waqf Board all Muslims: NAPM on SC ruling

Counterview Desk
India's top civil rights network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), even as describing the Supreme Court's Ayodhya judgement unjust, has said, it is an "assault on the secular fabric of the Constitution". In a statement signed by top social workers and activists, NAPM said, "The judgement conveys an impression to Muslims that, despite being equal citizens of the country, their rights are not equal before the law."

Church in India 'seems to have lost' moral compass of unequivocal support to the poor

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*
In 2017, Pope Francis dedicated a special day, to be observed by the Universal Church, every year, as the ‘World Day of the Poor’. This year it will be observed on November 17 on the theme ‘The hope of the poor shall not perish for ever’; in a message for the day Pope Francis says:

Counterview

Search This Blog