Forum for Better Visakha (FBV) coordinator E.A.S. Sarma has found fault with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for granting environmental clearance to a ferroalloys and steel plant in Kothavalasa mandal despite non-compliance of several conditions.
In a letter dated July 29 addressed to the Secretary, MoEF, Mr. Sarma, a former Government of India Secretary, referred to the EC sanctioned to Sarda Energy & Minerals Ltd. He said as per Para 3 Part B Clause (xiii) of the EC, the company was required to upload its compliance reports at its website (www.seml.co.in) and also place them in the public domain.
This condition had been infringed upon, he said. In addition, the company was prohibited from exploiting groundwater at the location. According to reports, the company has failed to comply with this condition also. As per EC, the company was required to get water from Thatipudi Reservoir, he stated.
Quoting information obtained by him under RTI Act and other sources, he said Thatipudi was already overcommitted and the EC was defective to that extent. It shows how MoEF's EC procedure had been reduced to a “rubber-stamping” ritual. It had given rise to corruption at the cost of public interest. On this ground alone, the EC was invalid, he said.
The letter stated: “It is distressing to note that MoEF had invoked the notifications issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to exempt the company from any public hearing before the project was to be set up. The units proposed to be set up, namely, the steel and the ferroalloys manufacturing facilities and the captive generation units, are highly polluting and they adversely affect the local land, water and air environment.”
He said in turn, they had an adverse impact on the health of people. Exemption from public hearing was therefore a highly regressive measure. Any responsible agency committed to conservation of environment would not have resorted to such a retrograde decision, he said
He hoped that as a responsible representative of MOEF, the Secretary would take the exemplary action of revoking the EC granted to the company and proceed against the “errant officers” of the Regional Office of MoEF concerned.
