Mega project being built on lies

CHENNAI: Beneath the veneer of a possible prosperity from an impending industrialisation project lurks the authorities’ apparent apathy towards the future of a whole set of local people who have traditionally relied on agriculture as their source of income.






The livelihood of more than 1,500 families in Thervoy Kandigai village of neighbouring Thiruva­lluvar district is threatened if one goes by the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared by State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot).



The EIA report that was sent to Ministry of Environment and Forest for clearance of the 1,127-acre land acquired in the area for an industrial park is silent on the disastrous repercussions the proposed industries will have on its native population — most strikingly, a complete cessation of farming and allied activities.



“The report denies our very existence,” says Mahesh of Thervoy. About 3,500 acres of land are currently under cultivation in a 10-km radius of the area proposed for starting a tyre-manufacturing unit, besides glass and metals and a heavy engineering industry.



Most of the farmers are marginal, holding small extents of land, cultivating paddy, ragi, groundnut and chillies. “The three eris (water bodies) that supply water for agriculture will dry up within months of removal of the forest cover,” says Madhumita Dutta K Saravanan of Corporate Accountability Desk-The Other Media. “The villagers will lose their livelihood overnight.”



Curiously, the EIA report claims that the 10-km radius of acquired land has no protected living beings, water bodies, forest area or sanctuaries. “Around the 10-km radius, there is no vegetation. But a very small area of protected forest is there,” says the report. And adds that the planned area has no wetlands, water bodies, backwaters, memorials and heritage symbols.



There are six villages in the 10-km radius. Thervoy alone has more than 1,500 households — and most of them are agrarian.



Gautam, a villager in the area, says the site proposed for the industrial park has been a means of the villagers’ livelihood for the last 200 years. He points out that the proposed site is the source of water to the water bodies. “An industrial park in this place will affect our farms. When patta for housing site can’t be issued in grazing land, how can you convert it for setting up of industries?”



Interestingly, close to the proposed site you have the Nemalur Reserve Forest. The EIA study has ignored its existence as well as the impact the proposed industrial activity will have on this forest.



A study by Madras Institute of Development Studies says Thervoy has more than 5,000 Dalits, besides their 10,000 cattle and goats. Prof C Lakshmanan, who did the study for a France-based NGO, says the land acquisition for the industrial park lacks transparency. Further, Sipcot officials and the district administration failed to take the loc­als into confidence.



“The state,” notes the professor, “should understand that the economic growth should not focus only on FDI, but it should be holistic and sustainable.”



There are four companies that are scheduled to operate from the industrial park. These include French tyre company Michelin (re-christened as Michelin India Tamil Nadu Tyres Private Limi­ted), aluminium and ferrous alloy metal-maker Hunter Douglas India Pvt Ltd, Harsha Float Glass India and Harsha Exito Engineering, who are the makers of heavy engineering equipment, besides units that produce components of oil, gas and power among others.



The EIA report evaluating the environmental parameters of the industries speaks of nil distance to sensitive zones and assures zero air or water pollution. Plus, the water required for these industries would be only 4.5 MLD, which will be sourced through Chennai Metro Water.



The report also says the availability of effluent disposal places is not applicable to the industries as they are mandated to put up zero liquid discharge-based effluent treatment plants that will completely recycle or reuse the treated effluent in the process, utilities and green belt development.



Sipcot CMD Niranjan Mardi was unavailable for reaction. Thiruvalluvar District Collector T P Rajesh refused to comment

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