{"id":54739,"date":"2016-05-17T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=54739"},"modified":"2016-05-17T09:00:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T16:00:45","slug":"india-violates-their-own-envremental-laws-in-other-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/05\/17\/india-violates-their-own-envremental-laws-in-other-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"INDIA VIOLATES THEIR OWN ENVREMENTAL LAWS IN OTHER COUNTRIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0H.D.N.PATHIRANA \u00a0FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SRILANKA<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

According to the reports published in the Sunday times that the EIA report has been\u00a0prepared on Sampur Power plant by a Delhi based company (M\/S Mantec consultants PVT\u00a0Limited) with local officials from Central Environmental Authority. This report has been prepared\u00a0Under the topic Socio-Economic Environment\u201d. The report notes that the land is free from human\u00a0<\/u>settlements or <\/u>any other livelihood related activities except ten families living beyond 250m distance\u00a0<\/span>from the boundary. There are no other socio-economic infrastructure facilities established in the\u00a0viscinity of the land. The residential properties have been portrayed as abandoned land and tanks are\u00a0no longer in use. There are 17 tanks Allai tank is the major Tank only few metres away from the\u00a0Proposed plant and none of them are abandoned tanks for information.<\/p>\n

The former chairman of the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA),\u00a0Dr. Hiran Jayawardene, who had been appointed to the EIA committee as a local expert, later he\u00a0resigned due to the internal manipulation of the committee, which failed to recognise the severe\u00a0threats \u00a0to the environment caused by the proposed plant to the eco-marine resources in the\u00a0Trincomalee harbour.<\/p>\n

Dr.Jayawardene was not happy with the proceedings as the developers were not ready to listen to his\u00a0views how the Plant is going to destroy marine resource\u00a0Dr. Jayewardene, who currently holds the post of Secretary-General at of Indian Ocean Marine\u00a0Affairs Co-operation (IOMAC), said after he studied the ecology of the Koddiyar Bay and Shell\u00a0Bay he recommended that the then government preserve those resources as unique in the island\u00a0but there was no follow up action .He says corals located in the surrounding areas of the \u00a0construction sites might be completely damaged along with other soft algae and red, brown and\u00a0green encrusting and filamentous algae.<\/p>\n

For information that a 550 megawatt plant needs 2.2 billion gallons of water daily as it uses\u00a0for Cooling it is raised \u00a0to 4 degrees C on average before being discharged into Koddiyar bay\u00a0which will destroy the entire marine life\u00a0Similar projects have been signed BY NTPC with the Government of Bangladesh. The Rampal\u00a0Power project in Bangladesh violates the environmental impact assessment<\/a> guidelines for\u00a0Coal-Based Thermal Power Plants. It was the same with the Sampur Power Project of\u00a0Srilanka the project was approved without a proper EIA report according to the former\u00a0Minister Mr.Patali Champika Ranawake the then Minister for Power and Energy.<\/p>\n

On August 1, 2013, Department of Energy of Bangladesh approved construction, but then\u00a0change its stance and set 50 preconditions for the project. But the location of the plant,\u00a014 kilometers from the Sundarbans, violates one of the basic preconditions and such projects \u00a0\u00a0must be outside a 25-kilometer radius from the outer periphery of an Ecologically sensitive\u00a0area. With peoples protests in Bangladesh the Project still drags with no end.<\/p>\n

We would like to know what are set conditions laid for the Sampur power plant so that the\u00a0Srilankan public will be more enlighten and aware before implementation. We are aware\u00a0that Indian coal is substandard comparing to other the coal producing countries like\u00a0Australia Indonesia and South Africa and what guarantees that India will not export their\u00a0product as they have the controlling power in all matters in the Sampur Power Plant not\u00a0the government of Srilanka<\/p>\n

According to a report published in New Age<\/em>, in past few years the Indian central and state authorities<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0deal with environmental concerns in India denied the proposal of NTPC to set up a similar coal-\u00a0fired Thermal Power Plant at Gajmara in Gadarwara<\/a> of Madhya Pradesh<\/a> over a number of points.<\/p>\n

NTPC failed to get approval of the Indian Central Green Panel<\/em> (Green Tribunal) in 2010 for the\u00a0construction of the coal-fired thermal power plant because a vast portion of double-crop agricultural\u00a0lands reportedly comprised the site.<\/p>\n

In 1985, Indian government created the Ministry of Environment and Forests<\/a> after Bhopal accident.<\/p>\n

This ministry is the central administrative organization in India for regulating and ensuring\u00a0Environmental protection act of the country. Starting in the 1990s, reforms were introduced.<\/p>\n

For the first time in Indian history, major air pollutant concentrations have dropped every five\u00a0years. Between 1992 and 2010, satellite data confirms India’s forest coverage has increased by 7%.<\/p>\n

With all protection laws in India a survey conducted with the World Bank, report says the Coal\u00a0Power Plants cost hospitals $3.3-$4.6bn (\u00a32.2-\u00a33.1bn) a year \u2014 a figure certain to rise as the\u00a0Coal industry struggles to keep up with demand for electricity.<\/p>\n

India’s breakneck pace of industrialisation is causing a public health crisis with 80-120,000\u00a0premature deaths and 20million new asthma cases a year due to air pollution from Coal\u00a0Power Plants a Greenpeace<\/a> report warns.<\/p>\n

The study finds the impacts are concentrated in central and northern India. One region, covering clusters in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, saw between 7,900 and 11,000 of all premature deaths.<\/p>\n