Industrial Pollution

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11 December 2013

SOCIO-CULTURAL
ENVIRONMENT
OF

BUSINESS

FIELD VISIT: SAROD

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Site Facts:
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

Sarod, Jambusar Taluka, Bharuch District
The region is part of the area popularly known as ‘Vegetable
Basket of India’

a

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Vadodora Enviro Channel Limited
• Project for safe disposal of treated waste water developed by
GIDC on behalf of participating industries.
• Effluent Channel Project (ECP) with capacity of 1,30,000M3/day
• Distance of 55km, ‘U’ shaped channel in the Gulf of Khambhat.
• 139 cross drainage works and 29 villages along the alignment of channel. • Project converted into a company (Effluent Channel Project Limted)
- Large stakes held by like IOCL, PICL (now RIL) , GSFC , GACL

• 37 members including Common Effluent treatment plants at
Nandesari & Umraya
• Carries the treated waste water for over 250 industrial units

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Flaws in the Project

Faults in Physical Design
Bri
• Channel is a brick masonry conduit.
• Open-Channel project
• Dumping into estuary – Illegal as per today’s law. Shifting to deep sea now

Not a nodal Authority: Little Power to stop industries
• ECPL is just a conveying system.
• Can impose only fines
• No authority on industries - can report to GPCB

Conflict of Interest a • Clients as promoters

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Flaws in Execution:
Participating
industries not meeting the norms. VECL Lagoon at Sarod

CPCB Report 2010:
Pollutants 3 to 15 times more than prescribed norms

High tide v/s low tide discharge

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Effluents in ECP

Pollutant

Effluent discharged (mg/l)

GPCB
Norm
(mg/l)

Total Suspended Solids

361

100

Total Dissolved Solids

14458

5000

Chemical Oxygen Demand

1826

250

Biological Oxygen Demand

334

100

NH3-N

387

50

Cyanide

2.857

0.2

Phenols

15.37

1.0

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J Point:

Dumping of wastes at J-point into River Mahi estuary

The effluents treated sub-optimally were dumped into the estuary despite the law requirement of dumping into the deep sea.

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J Point:

Untreated Water used by the Villagers

The villagers have no option but to drink this effluent-ridden water when clean water is unavailable.

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Impacts of Effluent Discharge
IMPACTS

Health

Economic
Environmental

Health

• No official data available
• Chemicals have entered the food chain
• High incidence of skin diseases,cancer, nasal and respiratory problems, emphysema
• Hair sample from a local barber shops showed the hair contained metals. – similar results for both high-level and low-level income belonging people

Environmental

• Land and Ground water reclamation: 50 years of efforts needed to determine if recovery feasible

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Economic Impact


Crop production has reduced to 50%.



Value of cotton crop of the region has reduced since cotton becomes black and the fibre length has shortened. 

Lack of employment opportunities – youth have moved to Saurashtra for fishing and urban centres as daily labourers 

Fisheries have been heavily impacted
 The fish population has drastically reduced now virtually non-existent
 Earlier too, fishes had high metal content leading to low realization

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Groundwater Pollution

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Rights – United Nations (UN)

Ensuring Environmental Sustainability: part of the Millenium Development Goals laid down by UN

Right to Healthy Environment: closely associated with the basic human right of ‘Right to Life’

WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality: should be of an acceptable color, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use.

+ Indian Laws
The
Factories
Act, 1948
The Water
(Prevention
and Control of Pollution)
Act, 1974

Environme ntal Protection
Act, 1986
Principles
from
Supreme
Court

‘Effective arrangements shall be made in every factory for the treatment of wastes and effluents due to the manufacturing process carried on therein, so as to render them innocuous and for their disposal.’

‘The State Government may make rules prescribing the arrangements to be made under sub-section (1) or requiring that the arrangements made in accordance with sub-section 91) shall be approved by such authority as may be prescribed.’
Paved the way for the creation of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State
Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) including the Gujarat Pollution Control Boards
(GPCB).
Chapter VII of the Act requires the industry to pay penalties for failing to comply with court’s decision to restrain discharge of effluent on application by the GPCB companies mostly get away by paying nominal fine.
No person carrying on an industry, operation or process shall discharge or emit any environmental pollutant in excess of standards prescribed by the Government. Further persons handling with hazardous substances shall comply with the procedural safeguards as may be prescribed by the authorities - effluent discharged are about 3 to 15 times the permissible amount in the Vadodra region.

The Precautionary Principle - authorities should take preventive measures even without scientific certainty
Polluter Pays Principle - cost of pollution, whether on people or on environment has to be paid by the polluter
Public Trust Doctrine - all common resources are owned by the state in trust for all citizens
The Transgenerational Equity Principle - effects on the present environment, but also on future generations to be kept in mind

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The Local Community of Sarod Village

Internal Dynamics:
 Almost

100% Muslim population
STRENGTHS

- Strong sense of unity (Religion,
2002 Riots)
- Bonding at the family & community level leading to community support systems
(Eating Habits)
- Internal Stratification: No class based discrimination

WEAKNESSES
- Lack of education among community members

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The Local Community of Sarod Village

Economic Impact & Current State:
Economic

Community Support systems exist…

Fishermen:
Unemployment/
Migration

System of Zakat

Crop yields and realization Helping secure employment in Gulf countries. Youth migration for employment Community funded educational institute

No formal data - sharp reduction in standard of living over the years

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The Local Community of Sarod Village

Sense of ‘Religious’ Discrimination:
 No

suspicion of religious motives behind the pollution & government apathy

 Encounters

with junior level public servants

different
 ‘Police

atrocities’ & fake allegations of robbery trigger such feelings at times

 Very

difficult to get ‘BPL’ card, ‘MA’ card

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The Local Community of Sarod Village

Other issues: Land Encroachment:


‘Gowchar’ land encroached

 Order

from Collector to clear the encroachment

 Police

atrocities & fake arrests

 Bribe
 Dug

of 65 lakhs offered

up the road yesterday

+ Role of State:
The Dark Side
• Scehmes of state like
MNERGA,
Grammen
Vikas, etc reaching the villages • Arrangement of potable water through
Narmada canal

• State’s focus on
‘economic’
development blind eye to environmental impact
• Politically backed industries exploit and bend rules –
VHP’s Ashwin
Sanghvi backed
Sterling SEZ
‘acquired’ 3120 acres Role of Gujarat
Pollution Control
Board (GPCB)
• Never cancelled permissions given to any industry
• Only temporary closure of industries done & minor penalties imposed
• Approved industries without considering environmental impact based on political connections

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Industry Response
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Few Locals Employed: Local employees used as front to pacify protesters and dampen the activism.

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Posts Offered: Junior level posts offered to locals

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Negotiations: Compensation v/s reviving the affected region 

Last year Crop damage: Farmers offered 70% compensation for damages due to leakage at lagoon.

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CSR Activity: Limited to building temples and renovation of schools

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Inaction: Non-implementation of environmentally friendly processes despite 50% subsidy and 25% soft loan availability

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Dysfunctional Democracy
 Delay: The

weapon of bureaucracy

 Jurisdiction

issues: Courts as well as Pollution

Authorities
 Activists

claim villagers misled by politicians during elections with false promises

 Abuse

of Power by Police: Fake allegations against protesting youth

 Sarpanch: ‘Tadipar’ from

5 districts by Collector under PASA by Collector. Order overturned by HC.

 Lack

of awareness among those affected

 Divide

& Rule (Local Community Employment)

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What the community feels?

A sense of betrayal • Promised employment, infrastructure and development
• Powerless &
Helpless

Perception of self • “Powerless innocents facing the brunt of profit-hungry industries. Not against development.
But why development at the cost of our lives”

Perception of the outside world • “Villagers coming in the path of development. ”

Sense of
Frustration
• Evident in the interaction at
VECL with management; taking power in their own hands Our visit
• Even looked at us as if we could raise their issue and help them in their fight

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PSS: A ray of hope
 Providing
 Taking
 Rohit

direction to the efforts against pollution

their case to the appropriate authorities.

Prajapati: Guarding them against means employed by industry to stymie the agitation

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India: Contrasted with Other Nations
Hudson River, USA – PCB contamination
• Unlike India, the industries were made responsible for the cleaningup act (post 1984).
• It is estimated that more than $800mn have been spent in remediation. Such precedents prevent industries from acting irresponsibly. Gulf of Mexico – Oil Spill
• BP (British Petroleum), the company responsible for it was made to incur $42 billion as clean up costs for the same

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USA is an over 200 year old democracy – far more mature than India as a democracy, people are aware of their rights; redressal mechanisms are effectively exercised & laws strictly enforced. o Over time as democracy in India matures, we hope to see similar steps being taken in
India as well.

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China has been grappling with major pollution problems in the last few years. In the absence of democratic rights, local communities in China have had to bear the brunt of the negative externalities of industrialization. o India’s position is similar to many other developing countries.

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Recommendations to Strengthen
Democratic Mechanisms
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Centralised Helpline Service to Guide Affected
Communities (Most often villagers)

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Centralised Authority to curb “Jurisdiction” related disposals 

Mandatory Collection of Data

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Imposing strict timelines for various activities by government departments

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Role of the Media: Sensitizing the poeple

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Decentralization of Powers

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Recommendations for the
Specific Project
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Convert the whole channel into a pipeline to prevent leeching 

Ensure High-tide release of effluents

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Pre-treatment of waste before entering the channel

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Enforcing effluent norms and closure of defaulters

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Land reclamation

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Thank You!