Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin and environmental activists have slammed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s memorandum to the Centre seeking environmental clearance (EC) for certain types of projects without holding a second public hearing in cases wherein the first hearing was disrupted.
On Tuesday, State Environment Minister K.C. Karuppannan presented a list of demands to Union Minister for Environment Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi.
In the representation, the State blamed project delays on the public, NGOs and political parties with vested interest, who, it said, were disturbing the smooth proceedings of the hearings.
In its representation, the government had requested the Central government to give EC for projects such as common effluent treatment plants, common municipal solid waste management facilities, common hazardous waste treatment storage units, and oil and gas transportation pipelines without insisting on another public hearing.
Registering his protest, DMK president M.K. Stalin on Wednesday said: “The request has been made with an ulterior motive since it has come close on the heels of the permission granted to the Vedanta Group for launching hydrocarbon projects. It has already helped the Sterlite project,” he said.
‘Commission culture’
Mr. Stalin also demanded withdrawal of the Minister’s allegations that the public, NGOs, and representatives of political parties were disturbing the public hearing on some projects.
“Investments and industrial projects are going to other States because of the commission culture of the AIADMK government and not because of the NGOs and political parties,” he said.
Environmental activist Nithyanand Jayaraman and environmental group Poovulagin Nanbargal said the move was against democratic rights bestowed on the people. “The basic issue is that Karuppannan is a democratically elected person, but he finds democracy inconvenient. Public consultation is essentially a very basic requirement of a democracy. It is the only opportunity that the local communities get to decide on the future of a local area,” Mr. Jayaraman told The Hindu.
G. Sundarrajan of Poovulagin Nanbargal said that the State must immediately withdraw the demand. “We would like to remind the rulers in Tamil Nadu that the Central government and the State government are elected by the people. The government runs on the tax payers’ money. A government that says that the tax payer cannot express his/her views on a project cannot be a democratic government,” he said.
Mr. Sundarrajan further said the State government was only making efforts to make Tamil Nadu a desert with projects like hydrocarbon and oil extraction in agricultural areas.
“It is not only surprising but also sad that the government is saying people should not get an opportunity to express their opposition to projects,” he said
Mr. Jayaraman added: “The public hearing is the only chance they get to open their mouth.”
“Even there, the District Collector presides over, and instead of being an impartial conductor of the event, takes sides on behalf of the project promoter. This is not something that the government should be doing,” he said.
