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All Sooted Up

A thermal plant threatens a rich wetland

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All Sooted Up
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Where The Muck Is

  • The coal-fired ECEPL power project is a grave threat to one of the few coastal swamps in eastern India
  • Just 5 km from Telineelapuram bird sanctuary. The marshland is the main source of sustenance for the local farmers and fisherfolk.
  • Experts allege that ECEPL began excavating, filling up of swamps even before getting environmental clearance in April, 2009

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On February 28, it rained rubber bullets and smoke bombs near Kakarapalli village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. Some 2,000-odd local villagers were protesting against the East Coast Energy Private Ltd (ECEPL) thermal power plant. Two people died in the violence and the company was quick to apologise through a press release: “We are deeply pained at the unfortunate incidents that happened today in Srikakulam. The company is committed to sustainable development and is working with the state government to restore normalcy.” Ironic, considering the 2,640 MW Bhavanapadu thermal plant, located right next to the Naupada swamps, has already irreversibly damaged the ecologically sensitive area.

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The locals, primarily fisherfolk and farmers, had been staging a non-cooperation stir near the plant site at Kakarapalli village for six months. Close to 2,500 police personnel were sent last week to disperse the protesters, resulting in the violence. Ecologists say the ECEPL’s coal-fired power project poses a grave threat to one of the few coastal swamps in eastern India. Scheduled for commercial production by September 2013, it’s just five km away from the Telineelapuram bird sanctuary. The marshland is the main source of sustenance for the locals.

Surveys conducted by the Bombay Natural History Society (led by director Dr Asad R. Rahmani), the Wildlife Institute of India and an MoEF expert panel have all pointed to the biodiversity and global ecological importance of the Kakarapalli creek where 123 bird species are found. The area was even set to get the status of a biodiversity heritage site.

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The ECEPL had begun excavating and filling up the Naupada swamps even before getting the mandatory environmental clearance in April ’09. It also diverted fresh water from the swamp’s surrounding areas to facilitate drainage of the construction site. “The ECEPL constructed a canal to ensure that fresh water bypasses the swamp and directly enters the creek. The swamp’s ecology depends on a steady supply of fresh water that helps maintain the degree of brackishness. The canal is a major threat to the swamp’s very ecological integrity,” Dr Rahmani points out. E.A.S. Sarma, ex-bureaucrat and now proactive citizen, says, “Pushing through private power projects with police help is absolutely ridiculous.”

Initially, it was presumed the plant would only threaten the bird life but now with water flooding farmlands and aqua life depleting, the locals are up in arms. Thermal power plants, incidentally, are extremely polluting and are being phased out in several countries. Stating that the ECEPL has consistently violated the Environment Protection Act, 1986, V.S. Krishna of the Human Rights Forum says “it’s a shame that the environment ministry gives clearance to projects that annihilate precious wetlands. Government officials are acting in criminal collusion with the project’s promoters.”

A similar situation had arisen on July 14, 2010, in Sompeta where the Nagarjuna construction company is building a thermal plant, again on a wetland. Three persons were killed in clashes there too. The MoEF can’t escape blame in all this. Minister Jairam Ramesh had made statements here last year that harmful projects would be stopped, only to do a quiet turnaround after protests cooled down. He has another opportunity to come good now. As we go to press, an MoEF order has asked ECEPL to halt all construction till March 7 and appear before the ministry’s expert appraisal panel.

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