Jairam Ramhesh Fails in Acid Test

Note:POSCO-India Private Limited, a subsidiary of Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO), the world's fourth largest steel producer and one of the most competitive steel companies. POSCO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Orissa in June 2005, to set up a 12 MTPA green field steel plant near Paradip, Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa, with an estimated investment of USD 12 billion. It plans to build a 4 million-tons per annum capacity steel plant in Orissa, durinCorporate Overviewg the first phase of its project , and expand the final production volume to 12 million tons per annum. POSCO-India Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated on 25th August 2005. The fate of the Rs 51,000-crore (Rs 510-billion) project hangs in balance after a four-member Forest Advisory Council filed a split report on withholding environment clearance, people in this coastal village, the hotbed of the resistance movement, are worried about getting displaced.

Gopal Krishna


Scandalous Decision of Jairam Ramesh to OK POSCO project
Environment Minister disregards findings of his own Review and Statutory Clearances Committees
The decision of Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to give a comprehensive OK to the POSCO India Steel-Power Production-Captive Port project, based on some additional conditions, is nothing short of a total sell out to the politics of power and international capital. In a climate where each and every Minister of the Union Government is tumbling over with scandals, Ramesh had stood tall taking one brave legally and ethically correct decision after another. An acid test for him to continue this streak of decision making in the wider public interest, keeping in view intergenerational interests as well, was about the POSCO project. By his decision today to clear the project Ramesh has failed not only his own legacy, but has attacked the very rule of law based decision making that he has so often been harping on to be the basis of his functioning.

It is well known that the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi, a peaceful movement of affected communities, has been systematically raising the deep, inter-generational and irreversible impacts of allowing this massive project to come up in the ecologically sensitive Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. This struggle began with the inking of a most controversial MOU between Orissa State and Korea's Pohang Steel (POSCO) in 2005, proposing to establish the largest industrial project ever conceived in human history: a 12 MTPA steel plant backed by captive power plant; a captive port (described as “small” but designed to receive the largest commercial ships ever built - of CAPESIZE variety); a large township to accommodate over 100000 people; a large captive mine in Kandadhar (600 MT for local processing and 400 MT for export over 30 years); fresh water intake from over 100 kms. away (while denying many towns and cities drinking water) and extensive road and rail infrastructure to support the project.

The 4000 acres of land chosen for the plant site comprise of pristine coastal and deltaic ecosystems, with active nesting sites for the critically endangered Olive Ridley Turtles and the Horse Shoe Crabs. Over a third of this land comprises of coastal forests. Over 22000 people will be directly displaced by the steel plant alone, a number that has been repeatedly disputed by Orissa Government based on its spurious claims. Absolutely no impact assessment of any academic rigour worth its salt or regulatory review of value considering the mega scale of this project, has at all been conducted to support the project is environmentally and socially useful. In fact, the so-called Rapid Environment Impact Assessment reports prepared by M/s Dastur for POSCO India, was only for 4 MTPA steel production and not for the entire project as is required by law. Clearly against statutory standards and norms, the project was still accorded environmental, forest and coastal regulation zone clearances in 2007. In addition, the Orissa Government engaged the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to cook up data claiming the benefits from the project as phenomenal, which when verified even cursorily proved to be junk statistics supporting desperate political games promoting the project.

Background to the Independent Review of POSCO by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF):

Following what is widely regarded as a politically brave but legally correct decision of Jairam Ramesh to reject on grounds of fraud the clearance accorded to the infamous Vedanta Bauxite project in Orissa during 2010, the much larger POSCO issue came into focus. After all communities affected by POSCO had been engaged for over 5 years in the most outstanding example of peaceful resistance against such unprecedented unjust development. Bending to reason, Mr. Ramesh agreed to constitute a sub-Committee under the N. C. Saxena Committee reviewing Forest Rights Act implementation, to also enquire if the POSCO project's forest clearances were compliant with the Forests Rights Act enacted only in 2006. Producing their report the Committee put beyond any reasonable doubt that the forest clearances accorded were in comprehensive violation of the Forest Rights Act. A right step taken soon after by the Minister was to stay the forest clearance accorded - a decision taken that was taken at a time when brutal dislocation of forest dwelling communities was underway by the Orissa Government.

Subsequently, Ramesh ordered an independent enquiry into all aspects of the project's clearance coordinated by Ms. Meena Gupta, former MoEF Environment Secretary, with Mr. Devendra Pandey (IFS, Retd.), former Director of Forest Survey of India, Mr. V. Suresh, Advocate and PUCL activist and Dr. Urmila Pingle, expert on tribal affairs, as members. Following three months of deliberate and extensive consultations, and also detailed investigation into all aspects of the clearances accorded, and on the basis of detailed verification of compliance review files the Committee by a majority decision (3:1) comprehensively rejected all the clearances granted to the project. Ms. Meena Gupta who stood up for the POSCO project, dubiously recommended additional conditions to adjust against serious statutory violations and fraud in the decision making process – a line of thinking that Jairam Ramesh now scandalously subscribes to.

In the subsequent review by Statutory Appraisal Committees of the MoEF, the Committees reviewing the Forest and Coastal Clearances recommended withdrawal of clearances granted. The only Committee that proposed a go-ahead was the one reviewing the environmental impacts under the EIA Notification. It was for Ramesh to now decide on the right steps to be taken to correct this gross injustice and irregularities in environmental decision making. In the face of extensive burden of proof of fraud involved in securing clearances for the POSCO project, the matter should legally have been to withdraw clearances accorded – as in the Vedanta case. This was the time to test the honesty of a man to stand up and uphold Constitutional and Ethical values, regardless of any and all forms of pressures. Jairam Ramesh has miserably failed this test.

Jairam Ramesh's pro-POSCO decision:

The report presented today by Jairam Ramesh is nothing but a capitulation to corrupt forces both within India and abroad. After all POSCO, though a Korean company, is held largely by American corporations, and no less than Warren Buffet holds 5% stake in this transnational corporation. For the single largest project FDI investment in India at 2005 prices (Rs. 51,000 crores or USD 12 billion capital cost), analysis reveal that this investment can be recovered in less than a decade given the pittance of a royalty that POSCO will pay for iron ore extracted. (Rs. 30/tonne at the official ore valuation of Rs. 300/tonne, compared with the commercial value of Rs. 7,000/tonne). It is to make such unprecedented profits from the plunder of India's natural resources that POSCO demanded a coastal location for its super large CAPESIZE ships to be berthed to cart away our precious iron ore. What India would be left with is the toxic residue of its dirty ore processing, while the refined ore (perhaps not even the finished steel) would be exported to Korea and elsewhere to add more value to POSCO's profits. This is not merely a flight of the nation's natural wealth but also a massive planned political exercise for erosion of financial resources with questionable legal sanction.

The POSCO episode, simply stated, shockingly resembles operations of the East India Company, only that this time it is aided not by any Victorian empire, but democratically elected Governments in Orissa and the Centre. Just as Mahatma Gandhi led India's valiant battle against exploitation of India by the British Empire, it is time now for PPSS to actively challenge this gross violation of Constitutional Rights, Statutes and Norms, dubiously legitimised by Jairam Ramesh ignoring substantive findings of Enquiry Committees that he himselft constituted.

The struggle against POSCO in Jagatsinghpur will continue. The struggle against exploitation of tribal, farming and fishing communities of Orissa will continue. The battle to expose corruption in the Orissa Government and the Union Government (especially MoEF) will continue.

This is a struggle to expose the most corrupt and socially and environmentally disastrous deal ever legitimised in India's history.

Abhay Sahoo
President
09556666552

Prashant Paikray
Spokesperson
09437571547
prashantpaikray@gmail.com

POSCO PRATIRODH SANGRAM SAMITI
Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Gadkujang; Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa
PRESS RELEASE: 31 January 2011

Photo:Villagers at the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti rally at Balitutha village in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa on May 19, 2010. Prafulla Das, The Hindu

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Letter To Minister of Environment and Forests

11 August, 2010

To:

Shri Jairam Ramesh

Minister of Environment and Forests

Paryavaran Bhavan

New Delhi

Sub:- Regarding POSCO project – need for withdrawal of illegal final clearance; new Meena Gupta Committee clearly aimed at delaying matters


Dear Sir

We are the people's organisation spearheading the struggle against the illegal and unjust POSCO project in Orissa. We are writing to you in the context of the ongoing illegalities being committed by the Orissa government and the Central Ministry of Environment and Forests in connection with this project. We also condemn the decision of the Ministry to constitute yet another Committee to “look into the matter” instead of remedying its own illegal decision to grant final forest clearance to the project on December 29, 2009.

We wish to bring the following to your attention. While we welcome the stop work order of the Ministry dated August 6, 2010, we condemn the Ministry's failure to withdraw the illegal clearance granted on December 29, 2009 to the project. We, political leaders and now your Ministry's own Committee to Study the Forest Rights Act (the NC Saxena Committee) have all pointed out that:

We are indeed Other Traditional Forest Dwellers and eligible for rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. It may be noted that the palli sabhas of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Govindpur have also asserted this fact and it is therefore now simply illegal for any other authority to deny it without going through the process under the Forest Rights Act.

As we are other traditional forest dwellers, our consent is required for the diversion of any forest land (this is also stated in your own Ministry's circular of August 3, 2009). The palli sabhas of Nuagaon, Dhinkia and Govindpur have denied consent to any diversion on February 4, 5 and 6 of this year, which has also been admitted by your Ministry in its latest “stop work” order.

The process under the Forest Rights Act has not been completed in the area. No rights have been recognised and no claims processed. This has also been admitted by the Ministry and by the Orissa government itself, which has said in writing to you that it has not processed any claims.

In short, every single condition required with respect to the Forest Rights Act for a legal forest clearance has not been met; but the clearance was granted anyway on December 29, 2009. Moreover, now that the palli sabhas have denied their consent, all other issues become irrelevant, and the clearance is invalid in any case. If the Ministry intends to comply with the law, it has no choice but to withdraw the clearance and reject the project's application.

Yet instead of doing this, we now find the Ministry has constituted yet another Committee to “investigate” the status of “implementation of the Forest Rights Act” as well as “relief and rehabilitation” (vide its order dated 28.07.2010). It is clear that this new Committee is nothing but a delaying tactic intended to muddy the waters. What exactly is this Committee going to do? Please consider:

The Committee cannot investigate whether or not we are eligible under the Act; we have already produced documentary proof of the same which has been accepted by the NC Saxena committee. In any case, at the most this can only be challenged by anyone through the process under the Forest Rights Act; the District Collector's lies about the lack of eligible persons have no legal standing and should have been rejected in the first place. How many more Committees do you need to “investigate” this matter? What are they going to “investigate”?

Although we are eligible under the Forest Rights Act, the Orissa government itself admits that it has not processed any claims. It is therefore clear that the Act has not been implemented. What exactly is there for the Committee to “ascertain”?

The fact that the palli sabhas of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Govindpur have denied consent for the project in February 2010 is known and accepted. This requires no “investigation” except looking at the concerned panchayat registers. The clearance is therefore invalid. How then is any further investigation relevant?

The key question before the government is why the Ministry issued a clearance on December 29, 2009, in violation of the law and its own orders and despite having none of the required documents. This can only be answered by the Ministry, not by any inquiry in our area.

There is a direct conflict of interest in the composition of the Committee, in that the Chairperson was herself the Secretary of Environment and Forests when the project was granted environmental clearance. As such she is being asked to review a project which she has already taken a decision in favour of.


We may also note that on June 22 the MoU with POSCO for this project lapsed. In light of this the entire basis for the forest clearance becomes infructuous as there is no longer any project in existence. If a new MoU is signed, the existing clearance is in any case invalid as it relates to the earlier proposal.

In sum, there is no purpose in the Committee “investigating and ascertaining” any matters with respect to the Forest Rights Act. It also cannot look into any questions of “relief and rehabilitation” because no rehabilitation has been done yet. It cannot even consider the general wisdom of the clearance because there is no longer any clarity on what the project is.

We therefore reject this irrelevant Committee as an obvious attempt to delay and confuse matters. No doubt some elements will try to use it to muddy the waters and come up with bureaucratic excuses for continuing to violate the law. We call upon you to cancel this committee, withdraw the illegal forest clearance and finally reject the application by POSCO-India for diversion of forest land in Jagatsinghpur. This is the minimum that is required by law. We will continue our peaceful and democratic agitation for our rights.

Sincerely,


(Abhay Sahoo)

Chairperson

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti

Contact: Prashant Paikray, Spokesperson, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti: 09437571547

http://www.countercurrents.org/posco110810.htm

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Waste to Energy Facility in Delhi Causing Controversy with Residents

The Okhla-Timarpur thermal Waste to Energy plant in Delhi, India will no longer be associated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) according to a report in The Times of India.

The incineration-based plant in Okhla is under construction and is scheduled to start operations in November 2011.

Asia Pacific Carbon Fund (APCF) had agreed to co-finance the project which, the parent company says, will reduce almost 263,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The plant will incinerate 643,000 tonnes of Delhi's waste, generating 16 MW power plant. The initial investment in the project is about Rs 1.74 billion ($38 million)

The plant had initially been due to enter service in October 2009, but has been delayed primarily due to environment related objection from local residents.

D Nayantara, a local resident told The Times of India: "An incineration plant in the middle of a residential area is really a poor idea. The government has still not given answers on how the waste will be carted to this site or how and where it will be segregated."

"There are several studies, including a white paper by the ministry of environment and forests, to show that composting is the best solution for Indian waste." Nayantara added.

Initial assessment of the project was conducted based on the CDM-Project Design Document (PDD).

One senior representative told The Times of India that the nature of the project when assessed was an integrated waste to energy project as mentioned in the PDD. An agreement with the project developer was signed to provide carbon co-financing from APCF, which was subjected to fulfilment of certain condition precedence in the given time frame, including ADB due-diligence of the project.

"Conditions were not satisfied by the project developer, and, therefore, the agreement has expired. APCF is no longer associated with Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company Pvt Ltd's integrated waste to energy project in Delhi and no funds were released for this project," said the APCF representative.

Residents of areas near the project site have been protesting against the incineration plant saying that it will lead to pollution in the area, and the matter has been taken to court.

At a meeting of the chief minister and representatives of the power company the issue of foul smells emanating from the existing Timarpur plant was discussed. According to The Times of India, sources said that officials seemed confident of addressing the issue once the entire plant was ready.

The two plants under this project are slated to produce around 2.23 tonnes of refuse derived fuel annually while the biomethanation plant will use 100 tonnes of waste to churn out 5000 cubic metres of biogas daily.

The fuel will be used to produce 16 MW of power. BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd will purchase half of the power that is produced. Power regulator, DERC, meanwhile recently passed an order on the tariff of the power produced by the plant at Rs 2.49/kWh (5.5 cents/kWh) for the first year and specified that any surplus power from the plant should be sold to a third party.

31 January 2011
http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/7352338749/articles/waste-management-world/waste-to-energy/2011/01/Waste_to_Energy_Facility_in_Delhi_Causing_Controversy_with_Residents.html

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ADB no longer associated with Okhla waste plant

NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will now not be associated with the Okhla-Timarpur waste to energy plant. The incineration-based plant in Okhla is under construction and is scheduled to start operations in November 2011.

Asia Pacific Carbon Fund (APCF) had agreed to co-finance the project which, the parent company says, will reduce almost 2.63 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The plant will incinerate 6.43 lakh tonnes of Delhi's waste to run a 16MW power plant. The initial investment in the project is about Rs 174 crore and the plant was supposed to have become operational in October 2009. There were several delays, primarily due to environment-related objections by residents of nearby areas.

On Saturday, residents of nearby areas, including Sukhdev Vihar, Sarita Vihar, Haji Colony, Jasola Vihar and Johri Farm, carried out a protest march. The group of over 100 people marched from Sarita Vihar to the project site via Mathura Road. They also blocked traffic for close to 30 minutes near Apollo Hospital. "An incineration plant in the middle of a residential area is really a poor idea. The government has still not given answers on how the waste will be carted to this site or how and where it will be segregated. There are several studies, including a white paper by the ministry of environment and forests, to show that composting is the best solution for Indian waste," said Nayantara D, a resident.

Initial assessment of the project was conducted based on the CDM-Project Design Document (PDD). "The nature of the project when assessed was an integrated waste to energy project as mentioned in the PDD. An agreement with the project developer was signed to provide carbon co-financing from APCF, which was subjected to fulfillment of certain condition precedence in the given time frame, including ADB due-diligence of the project. Conditions were not satisfied by the project developer, and, therefore, the agreement has expired. APCF is no longer associated with TIMARPUR-OKHLA Waste Management Company Pvt Ltd's integrated waste to energy project in Delhi and no funds were released for this project," said a senior representative of APCF.

Residents of areas near the project site, including Sarita Vihar, Sukhdev Vihar, Gaffar Manzil and Haji Colony, have been protesting against the incineration plant saying that it will lead to pollution in the area. The matter has been taken to court. "We are against this project. The government seems to have given no thought to the possible environmental and health hazards that this plant may cause. Other similar projects, not just in Delhi but across the country, have failed to work due to the low calorific value of waste used. Why are they wasting money on this?" said Manisha Parikh, a resident of Sukhdev Vihar.

At a meeting of the chief minister and representatives of the power company on Saturday, the issue of foul smell emanating from the existing Timarpur plant was discussed. Sources said that officials seemed confident of addressing the issue once the entire plant was ready.

The two plants under this project are slated to produce around 2.23 tonnes of refuse derived fuel annually while the biomethanation plant will use 100 tonnes of waste to churn out 5,000 cubic metres of biogas daily. The fuel will be used to produce 16MW of power. BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd will purchase half of the power that is produced. Power regulator, DERC, meanwhile recently passed an order on the tariff of the power produced by the plant at Rs 2.49/kWh for the first year and specified that any surplus power from the plant should be sold to a third party.

Jan 30, 2011
The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/ADB-no-longer-associated-with-Okhla-waste-plant/articleshow/7386826.cms

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Massive Rally Against Toxic Waste Incinerator at Okhla

PRESS NOTE
Massive Rally Against Toxic Waste Incinerator at Okhla

New Delhi, Saturday 29th -- Protesting against the location of a massive 2010 tonne waste incinerator close to their residences, hundreds of men, women and children marched through busy Mathura road on Saturday demanding their right to clean air and surroundings. A letter protesting against the hazardous Municipal Waste to Energy (WTE) plants has also been sent. The letter is attached.

Carrying placards denouncing the government’s policy of bringing waste from other parts of Delhi to be incinerated near their homes, the marchers from Sukhdev Vihar, Jasola, Ghaffar Manzil and Haji colony peacefully marched to the site of the ‘waste-to-incinerator’ being built as a private-public partnership by Jindal Ecopolis.

Earlier Jindal MD, Indresh Batra said the plant will eventually process 4,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste and rank among the world’s biggest plants of its type and that it had flue control systems capable of controlling the dioxins, furans, Sox , Nox and other toxic substances associated with waste-to-energy plants.

However, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has refused to finance the plant which costs 200 crore rupees to build because of the several controversies surrounding the plant. The Supreme Court for example has banned ‘waste-to-energy’ plants, allowing only five pilot projects to test viability.

The Jindal plant is not one of these pilot plants and the residents plan to file a contempt of court case with the Supreme Court against gross violations of its ruling.
Already the residents have filed a Public Interest Litigation pending in the Delhi High Court against the construction of the plant since 2009. The High Court has observed during a hearing in November that construction was being pursued at the company’s own risk.

The residents had protested against the handover of the land extending to 15 acres, close to the Indraprastha Apollo, Holy Family and Escorts Hospitals, to the Jindals by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).

Among institutions that have protested against the plant are the Don Bosco Technical Institute, Cheshire Homes, India, Delhi Unit and the Carmelite Fathers who have several institutions in the area.

Asha Arora, one of the organizers of Saturday’s rally, said the residents were determined not to allow the plant to come up. “This is a question of the health of our children and elders and we cannot compromise on this. Most of us have been living in this area for decades and cannot relocate,” she said.

Businessman and resident Rajkumar Goyal said the government should not have even considered locating such a large incinerator near a thickly populated residential area of South Delhi. ‘We cannot understand how the government can so blatantly violate Supreme Court rulings made on the basis of committee it had formed for the purpose.”

For details contact: K.K. Rohatgi, Lawyer, Sukhdev Vihar Residential Area, 9810134860 Asha Arora, 9711408421, Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance: 9818089660, E-mail: krishna2777@gmail.com

Letter to Lt Governor

To

Shri Tejendra Khanna
Lt Governor, Delhi
Raj Niwas
Delhi

Subject-Toxic Municipal Waste to Energy (WTE) plants

Sir,

This is to draw your attention towards the fact that unmindful of the fact that waste incinerator technologies are net energy losers when the embodied energy of the materials burned is accounted for, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Delhi Government is promoting it without regard to citizens’ health and environmental concerns and the livelihood of the waste recycling workers. The proposed Waste to Energy project for carbon credit is in violation of Supreme Court's order as well.

The environmental clearance to this project was given when Mr A Raja was the Union Minister for Environment & Forests ignoring the protests of waste pickers whose livelihood depends on it. Residents are already facing the consequences of medical waste incinerator plant.

Most recently, it has reliably been learnt that Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s Asian Pacific Carbon Fund (APCF) has dropped the Timarpur-Okhla incineration based waste to
energy plant out of its portfolio. But the construction of the plant is still underway.

Sadly, now given the fact that Delhi High Court that heard the matter on 12th January, 2011 has posted the matter for hearing in March 2011. This plant is coming up in violation of the Supreme Court’s order.

It is noteworthy that Chairperson, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy wrote to the Ministry on 14 June 2005 seeking review of its WTE programme. It supported a ban on economic incentives for such projects, saying: "We therefore direct that land filling of unsegregated wastes, incineration and recovery of energy from municipal waste shall henceforth not receive any Govt. sponsorship, encouragement or aid in any manner, except for completion of any projects that have already invested 30% of their capital cost on site."

I wish to draw your attention towards this Timarpur-Okhla Waste to Energy project that has met with protest rally from the residents of Gaffar Manzil, Sukhdev Vihar and Hazi Colony together. Over thousands of people have walked through the colonies in a procession to stage their protest. Similar plant is proposed at Ghazipur and Timarpur in Delhi.

It is noteworth that the proposed plant is located inside dozens of densely populated residential colonies like Harkesh Nagar and Johori Farm, when the policy of the government is to shift or relocate all existing industries whatsoever from the residential areas. Besides this the site is in proximity of hospitals like Holy Family, Fortis-Escorts and Apollo. Inhabitants of colonies like Gaffar Manzil, Sukhdev Vihar and Hazi Colony are rightly alarmed at the prospect of a Dioxins emitting incinerator plant from coming up in their vicinity.

This has reference also to a reply by the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy dated December 11, 2009 in the Lok Sabha and laying of a foundation stone on June 26, 2010 in Sukhdev Vihar, Delhi by Mrs Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s Chief Minister for a polluting waste to energy plant in the residential area despite the experience of Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster.

In his reply the Minister for New and Renewable Energy stated, “Our Ministry is implementing a programme for setting up five pilot projects on Energy recovery from municipal solid waste”. Initially, Delhi Government claimed in the Delhi High Court that it was one of the five projects you referred to in your reply, which the court later found to its shock that such a claim was manifestly untrue.

The MNRE and Delhi government have been misled into promoting this dubious technology despite incontrovertible evidence against the technology and in spite of its explicit exclusion by the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan for Climate Change.

Waste incineration systems (including waste pelletisation, pyrolysis and gasification systems) produce pollutants, which are detrimental to health & environment. It is expensive and does not eliminate or adequately control the toxic emissions from today's chemically complex municipal discards. Even new incinerators release toxic metals, dioxins, and acid gases. Far from eliminating the need for a landfill, waste incinerator systems produce toxic ash and other residues. Such projects disperse incinerator ash throughout the environment and subsequently enter our food chain.

Incinerator based technological intervention in the waste stream distorts waste management beyond repair. Such systems rely on minimum guaranteed waste flows. It indirectly promotes continued waste generation while hindering waste prevention, reuse, composting, recycling, and recycling-based community economic development. It costs cities and municipalities more and provides fewer jobs than comprehensive recycling and composting. It prohibits the development of local recycling-based businesses.

These waste to energy projects are being promoted in manifest violation of international environmental norms. Incineration of waste violates Kyoto Protocol because as per the Protocol waste incineration is a greenhouse gas emitter. It violates Stockholm Convention on POPs because it calls for improvements in waste management with the aim of the cessation of open and other uncontrolled burning of wastes. It violates recommendations of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s Global Assessment on Mercury which includes measures such as reducing or eliminating the mercury emission from waste incineration because unlike other heavy metals, mercury has special properties that make it difficult to capture in many control devices. It violates Dhaka Declaration on Waste Management adopted by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in October 2004. As per this declaration, SAARC countries cannot opt for incineration and other unproven technologies.

It is contrary to national legislations and norms such as Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000 because according to these Rules it is illegal to incinerate chlorinated plastics (like PVC) and wastes chemically treated with any chlorinated disinfectant and recommendations of the Supreme Court constituted committee on waste management.

While no one will allow an incinerator based plant in one's own backyard or in one's own residential area, the same is being done by the Delhi Government and your Ministry. In an open letter to the Chief Minister the residents said, “This plant will emit large quantities of hazardous and toxic emissions (such as dioxins and furans) due to burning of Municipal Solid Waste, and will profoundly affect the health of the people living in the surrounding areas and environment for all times to come in future.”

Delhi Government must take cognizance of the sad plight at waste to energy site in Gandhamguda village in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh (wrongly mentioned as Hyderabad project) which had the same technology. While the RDF incinerator was in operation, the village was covered by a heavy shroud of dark smoke. Originally a pelletisation plant with a furnace, After the plant came up, local doctors started detecting case of problems not found before— skin rashes, asthma, respiratory problems and some cases of stillborns. In a statement, Gandhamguda sarpanch D. Shakuntala had said: ‘‘Everyone in Peerancheru Gram Panchayat and its adjoining regions is now contaminated with harmful pollutants and symptoms are visible in the form of brain fever, vomiting, jaundice, asthma, miscarriages, infertility.’’ Similar fate awaits residents of Delhi.

For misplaced carbon revenue, it would not be appropriate to turn Delhi residents as guinea pigs. MNRE has an incorrect policy of subsidizing hazardous technologies like proposed incinerators.

Environmental groups, recycling workers and neighborhood residents are demanding closure of this combustion based project for a just transition from burning waste to building a better, cleaner future for the residents of Delhi. The transition is necessary in the face of issues such as the high cost of incineration, health effects of pollution in neighborhoods, and adverse climate change. Children suffer asthma rates three times the national average among other devastating health impacts.

This plant is based on a hazardous technology that receives fiscal incentives from Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Notably, while 'whether or not energy from mixed municipal waste (with hazardous characteristics) is a driving concern' remains in dispute, the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) categorically refers to Biomethanation technology, a biological treatment method for waste to energy instead of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) process which is a incineration technology and is a tried, tested, failed and Dioxins emitting technology.

MNRE and Delhi Chief Minister has turned a blind eye to Delhi High Court order which led to an inquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into the failure of the Timarpur plant that was also based on incineration technology (namely Refuse Derived Fuel) and the ‘White Paper on Pollution in Delhi with an Action Plan’ prepared by Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Chief Minister has been misled in to promoting it. The White Paper says, “The experience of the incineration plant at Timarpur, Delhi and the briquette plant at Bombay support the fact that thermal treatment of municipal solid waste is not feasible, in situations where the waste has a low calorific value. A critical analysis of biological treatment as an option was undertaken for processing of municipal solid waste in Delhi and it has been recommended that composting will be a viable option. Considering the large quantities of waste requiring to be processed, a mechanical composting plant will be needed.”

Even Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)’s own Feasibility Study and Master Plan for Optimal Waste Treatment and Disposal for the Entire State of Delhi of March 2004 says, “Incineration of RDF is considered waste incineration.” (Page 25, Appendix D, Technology Catalogue). It also says the costs of RDF are often high for societies with low calorific value because energy is used to dry the waste before it becomes feasible to burn it.

In fact the Master Plan Report (2020) of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) itself says, “RDF is often an option when emission standards are lax and RDF is burned in conventional boilers with no special precautions for emissions.” One is surprised that despite this observation the report then goes on to suggest RDF. In fact the MCD report itself says that RDF is another form of incineration.

A 10 member Fact Finding Team visited the plant site on 18th June 2010 to take stock of the situation. Its preliminary findings are as follows: 1. RDF or incineration is completely inappropriate for Indian urban waste, which is largely biodegradable in nature. They extract a very high cost for the energy which they claim to generate. 2. The cost largely subsidised by various schemes, does not however include the environmental and health costs caused by their toxic releases, and which are externalized. 3. These technologies also use valuable resources which can be recycled, such as plastics and metals, and which support a massive recycling sector in the country. Indian municipal waste is fit for composting and bio-methanation treatment processes. 4. RDF is a thermal and combustion technology, mainly used to prepare waste for mass incineration. 5. If mixed waste is burnt will create problems of very toxic compounds such as dioxins and furans, heavy metals and other pollutants. 6. The calorific value for the waste comes from materials such as plastics and metals. 7. Plastics, especially chlorinated plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) when combusted gives rise to these highly toxic pollutants and
8. PVC plastic combustion which is part of the mixed waste is banned in India by regulation both in the municipal and bio-medical waste handling rules.

Earlier residents had not allowed the land handover ceremony for the project that is proposed in the residential area of Okhla but unmindful of the public protest, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had permitted Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd to set up this plant. This company has secured a contract from New Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited, a joint venture between the Delhi Government and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS), to produce 16 MW power from 2, 000 metric tonnes of municipal waste. Jindal company’s misplaced claims to that effect that it will process nearly 2000 tonnes of waste, later it would be in a position to process as much as 4,000 tonnes based on obsolete technology will distort capital city’s waste management beyond repair.

The proposed polluting technology to deal with the waste from South Delhi, North West Delhi and East Delhi is fraught with disastrous public health consequences for which two companies namely, Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company (TOWMCL) and the Unique Waste Processing Company (subsidiary of IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited have been set up.

As per the agreement, BRPL will procure 50 per cent of the 16 MW electricity to be produced by TOWMCL at its plant in Okhla in the vicinity of numerous residential areas such as Sukhdev Vihar, Hazi Colony, Gaffar Manzil and others. The plant being set up plans to process over 6,43,500 lakh metric tonnes or one third of Delhi's Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per year generated in Delhi. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2010-2011. Around 1,300 Tonnes Per Day (TPD) of MSW will be sourced from the Okhla landfill site and 650 TPD from Timarpur. BRPL will procure power at a DERC approved competitive tariff rate, determined by a competitive bidding process. The agreement allows the promoters to sell the remaining 50 per cent electricity through a suitable open access mechanism.

Similar waste to energy project is coming up at Ghazipur, Delhi as well. Earlier, in November, 2009 BRPL had signed a 25-year-agreement to procure 49 per cent of the electricity generated from garbage to energy project at Ghazipur. Chief Minister referred to this project as well while laying the foundation stone.

Unmindful of the environmental and human cost the installation of proposed municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy plants in Ghazipur, Timarpur and Okhla, based on incineration of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) is being pursued. This compelled the residents to move to the Delhi High Court. Earlier, the matter came up for hearing on December 11, 2009 wherein the petitioners (Sukhdev Vihar Residents Welfare Association & others) pointed out the polluting nature of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Incineration technology and how both the central government and the Delhi government has misled the court. The court in its latest order has found that it was misled earlier which had led to it dismissing the petition which has now been restored before the Delhi High Court. In the presence of A.S. Chandihok, Additional Solicitor General, the bench headed by the Chief Justice, Delhi High Court in an order dated 15th January, 2010 observed, “that the project in question” and “the location of the pilot project in Delhi was neither recommended by the Expert Committee nor approved by the Supreme Court.”

Also East Delhi Waste Processing Company Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle of the latter company is working for generating electricity at the Ghazipur site with the support of the Delhi Government. ‘New Delhi Waste Processing Company Private Limited’ a Joint Venture company of Delhi Government, IL&FS and APTTDC is supporting the project as well. The integrated municipal waste-processing complex is proposed to include a MSW processing plant at Ghazipur to produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) along with a power plant of 10 MW capacity where the RDF derived from the waste will be used as fuel to produce electricity. It is supposed to handle an average 1300 tons per day. It claims that 111,949 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum of greenhouse gases would be reduced. The crediting period for the project is from 1st November, 2010 to 31 October, 2020.

The Timarpur-Okhla carbon credit project was registered on 10th November, 2007 with a claim to reduce greenhouse gases to the tune of 262,791 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum. Unique Waste Processing Company, a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Centre (APTDC) has incorporated Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company for developing the project for processing municipal waste and also to produce electricity at two locations namely Timarpur and Okhla, at the site at Okhla that is adjacent to defunct Okhla Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). TOWMCL is working with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and MCD. The Timarpur and Okhla plant will together be processing 650 tonnes per day of MSW at Timarpur site and 1300 tonnes per day of MSW at Okhla and claims to generate 16 MW of electricity.

The move underway to install RDF plants in Delhi and several other state capitals is an environmentally unsustainable solution, which should be deemed unacceptable. If Delhi allows such toxic plant, it will set a bad precedent for other cities. It raises serious concerns about the health and safety of the citizens, which such a technology, will jeopardize.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon the policy makers to exclude "waste," "waste resources," "waste pelletisation", "waste incineration," "pyrolysis," "gasification" technologies from qualifying as renewable energy or fuel and also exclude renewable energy subsidy/loan programs for burn technology based waste to energy programs and policies. The high cost routes must be avoided and instead only appropriate methods such as small-scale bio-methanation, composting and proper recycling be propagated.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Integrated Plant Nutrient Management did not encourage WTE policy and has recommended setting up of 1000 compost plants all over the country and has allocated Rs. 800 crore for the same. Even Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, as the President rightly summed up the need for Integrated Zero Waste Management. He has illustrated it by referring to a village of 2,400 families, which generates garbage of over 48 tonnes per year. This garbage is converted into manure and recyclable waste generating over Rs 3 lakh in revenue. This scheme provides employment to people of the Panchayat. Such measures promote sustainable development as against the current trend of introducing failed polluting technologies, which turn citizens into guinea pigs for experiments.

The incentives and subsidies should be offered in areas of `cold' technologies alone, which are suited to our country economically, socially and also to our wastes. The ideal resource management strategy for MSW is to avoid its generation in the first place. This implies changing production and consumption patterns to eliminate the use of disposable, non-reusable, non-returnable products and packaging. The alternative waste disposal methods include waste reduction, waste segregation at source, extended use and refuse, recycling, biomethanation technology and composting.

In view of these grave concerns, we request you to direct the concerned authorities to take preventive steps in order to save Delhi's environment from highly polluting plants in residential areas.

Thanking You

Warm Regards
Gopal Krishna
Convener
ToxicsWatch Alliance
New Delhi
Mb: 9818089660
Website: www.toxicswatch.com
Blog: toxicswatch.blogspot.com

Read more...

Toxic Municipal Waste to Energy (WTE) Plants in Delhi

To

Shri Tejendra Khanna
Lt Governor, Delhi
Raj Niwas
Delhi

Subject-Toxic Municipal Waste to Energy (WTE) plants

Sir,
This is to draw your attention towards the fact that unmindful of the fact that waste incinerator technologies are net energy losers when the embodied energy of the materials burned is accounted for, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Delhi Government is promoting it without regard to citizens’ health and environmental concerns and the livelihood of the waste recycling workers. The proposed Waste to Energy project for carbon credit is in violation of Supreme Court's order as well.

The environmental clearance to this project was given when Mr A Raja was the Union Minister for Environment & Forests ignoring the protests of waste pickers whose livelihood depends on it. Residents are already facing the consequences of medical waste incinerator plant.

Most recently, it has reliably been learnt that Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s Asian Pacific Carbon Fund (APCF) has dropped the Timarpur-Okhla incineration based waste to
energy plant out of its portfolio. But the construction of the plant is still underway.

Sadly, now given the fact that Delhi High Court that heard the matter on 12th January, 2011 has posted the matter for hearing in March 2011. This plant is coming up in violation of the Supreme Court’s order.

It is noteworthy that Chairperson, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy wrote to the Ministry on 14 June 2005 seeking review of its WTE programme. It supported a ban on economic incentives for such projects, saying: "We therefore direct that land filling of unsegregated wastes, incineration and recovery of energy from municipal waste shall henceforth not receive any Govt. sponsorship, encouragement or aid in any manner, except for completion of any projects that have already invested 30% of their capital cost on site."

I wish to draw your attention towards this Timarpur-Okhla Waste to Energy project that has met with protest rally from the residents of Gaffar Manzil, Sukhdev Vihar and Hazi Colony together. Over thousands of people have walked through the colonies in a procession to stage their protest. Similar plant is proposed at Ghazipur and Timarpur in Delhi.

It is noteworth that the proposed plant is located inside dozens of densely populated residential colonies like Harkesh Nagar and Johori Farm, when the policy of the government is to shift or relocate all existing industries whatsoever from the residential areas. Besides this the site is in proximity of hospitals like Holy Family, Fortis-Escorts and Apollo. Inhabitants of colonies like Gaffar Manzil, Sukhdev Vihar and Hazi Colony are rightly alarmed at the prospect of a Dioxins emitting incinerator plant from coming up in their vicinity.

This has reference also to a reply by the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy dated December 11, 2009 in the Lok Sabha and laying of a foundation stone on June 26, 2010 in Sukhdev Vihar, Delhi by Mrs Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s Chief Minister for a polluting waste to energy plant in the residential area despite the experience of Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster.

In his reply the Minister for New and Renewable Energy stated, “Our Ministry is implementing a programme for setting up five pilot projects on Energy recovery from municipal solid waste”. Initially, Delhi Government claimed in the Delhi High Court that it was one of the five projects you referred to in your reply, which the court later found to its shock that such a claim was manifestly untrue.

The MNRE and Delhi government have been misled into promoting this dubious technology despite incontrovertible evidence against the technology and in spite of its explicit exclusion by the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan for Climate Change.

Waste incineration systems (including waste pelletisation, pyrolysis and gasification systems) produce pollutants, which are detrimental to health & environment. It is expensive and does not eliminate or adequately control the toxic emissions from today's chemically complex municipal discards. Even new incinerators release toxic metals, dioxins, and acid gases. Far from eliminating the need for a landfill, waste incinerator systems produce toxic ash and other residues. Such projects disperse incinerator ash throughout the environment and subsequently enter our food chain.

Incinerator based technological intervention in the waste stream distorts waste management beyond repair. Such systems rely on minimum guaranteed waste flows. It indirectly promotes continued waste generation while hindering waste prevention, reuse, composting, recycling, and recycling-based community economic development. It costs cities and municipalities more and provides fewer jobs than comprehensive recycling and composting. It prohibits the development of local recycling-based businesses.

These waste to energy projects are being promoted in manifest violation of international environmental norms. Incineration of waste violates Kyoto Protocol because as per the Protocol waste incineration is a greenhouse gas emitter. It violates Stockholm Convention on POPs because it calls for improvements in waste management with the aim of the cessation of open and other uncontrolled burning of wastes. It violates recommendations of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s Global Assessment on Mercury which includes measures such as reducing or eliminating the mercury emission from waste incineration because unlike other heavy metals, mercury has special properties that make it difficult to capture in many control devices. It violates Dhaka Declaration on Waste Management adopted by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in October 2004. As per this declaration, SAARC countries cannot opt for incineration and other unproven technologies.

It is contrary to national legislations and norms such as Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000 because according to these Rules it is illegal to incinerate chlorinated plastics (like PVC) and wastes chemically treated with any chlorinated disinfectant and recommendations of the Supreme Court constituted committee on waste management.

While no one will allow an incinerator based plant in one's own backyard or in one's own residential area, the same is being done by the Delhi Government and your Ministry. In an open letter to the Chief Minister the residents said, “This plant will emit large quantities of hazardous and toxic emissions (such as dioxins and furans) due to burning of Municipal Solid Waste, and will profoundly affect the health of the people living in the surrounding areas and environment for all times to come in future.”

Delhi Government must take cognizance of the sad plight at waste to energy site in Gandhamguda village in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh (wrongly mentioned as Hyderabad project) which had the same technology. While the RDF incinerator was in operation, the village was covered by a heavy shroud of dark smoke. Originally a pelletisation plant with a furnace, After the plant came up, local doctors started detecting case of problems not found before— skin rashes, asthma, respiratory problems and some cases of stillborns. In a statement, Gandhamguda sarpanch D. Shakuntala had said: ‘‘Everyone in Peerancheru Gram Panchayat and its adjoining regions is now contaminated with harmful pollutants and symptoms are visible in the form of brain fever, vomiting, jaundice, asthma, miscarriages, infertility.’’ Similar fate awaits residents of Delhi.

For misplaced carbon revenue, it would not be appropriate to turn Delhi residents as guinea pigs. MNRE has an incorrect policy of subsidizing hazardous technologies like proposed incinerators.

Environmental groups, recycling workers and neighborhood residents are demanding closure of this combustion based project for a just transition from burning waste to building a better, cleaner future for the residents of Delhi. The transition is necessary in the face of issues such as the high cost of incineration, health effects of pollution in neighborhoods, and adverse climate change. Children suffer asthma rates three times the national average among other devastating health impacts.

This plant is based on a hazardous technology that receives fiscal incentives from Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Notably, while 'whether or not energy from mixed municipal waste (with hazardous characteristics) is a driving concern' remains in dispute, the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) categorically refers to Biomethanation technology, a biological treatment method for waste to energy instead of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) process which is a incineration technology and is a tried, tested, failed and Dioxins emitting technology.

MNRE and Delhi Chief Minister has turned a blind eye to Delhi High Court order which led to an inquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into the failure of the Timarpur plant that was also based on incineration technology (namely Refuse Derived Fuel) and the ‘White Paper on Pollution in Delhi with an Action Plan’ prepared by Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Chief Minister has been misled in to promoting it. The White Paper says, “The experience of the incineration plant at Timarpur, Delhi and the briquette plant at Bombay support the fact that thermal treatment of municipal solid waste is not feasible, in situations where the waste has a low calorific value. A critical analysis of biological treatment as an option was undertaken for processing of municipal solid waste in Delhi and it has been recommended that composting will be a viable option. Considering the large quantities of waste requiring to be processed, a mechanical composting plant will be needed.”

Even Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)’s own Feasibility Study and Master Plan for Optimal Waste Treatment and Disposal for the Entire State of Delhi of March 2004 says, “Incineration of RDF is considered waste incineration.” (Page 25, Appendix D, Technology Catalogue). It also says the costs of RDF are often high for societies with low calorific value because energy is used to dry the waste before it becomes feasible to burn it.

In fact the Master Plan Report (2020) of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) itself says, “RDF is often an option when emission standards are lax and RDF is burned in conventional boilers with no special precautions for emissions.” One is surprised that despite this observation the report then goes on to suggest RDF. In fact the MCD report itself says that RDF is another form of incineration.

A 10 member Fact Finding Team visited the plant site on 18th June 2010 to take stock of the situation. Its preliminary findings are as follows: 1. RDF or incineration is completely inappropriate for Indian urban waste, which is largely biodegradable in nature. They extract a very high cost for the energy which they claim to generate. 2. The cost largely subsidised by various schemes, does not however include the environmental and health costs caused by their toxic releases, and which are externalized. 3. These technologies also use valuable resources which can be recycled, such as plastics and metals, and which support a massive recycling sector in the country. Indian municipal waste is fit for composting and bio-methanation treatment processes. 4. RDF is a thermal and combustion technology, mainly used to prepare waste for mass incineration. 5. If mixed waste is burnt will create problems of very toxic compounds such as dioxins and furans, heavy metals and other pollutants. 6. The calorific value for the waste comes from materials such as plastics and metals. 7. Plastics, especially chlorinated plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) when combusted gives rise to these highly toxic pollutants and
8. PVC plastic combustion which is part of the mixed waste is banned in India by regulation both in the municipal and bio-medical waste handling rules.

Earlier residents had not allowed the land handover ceremony for the project that is proposed in the residential area of Okhla but unmindful of the public protest, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had permitted Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd to set up this plant. This company has secured a contract from New Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited, a joint venture between the Delhi Government and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS), to produce 16 MW power from 2, 000 metric tonnes of municipal waste. Jindal company’s misplaced claims to that effect that it will process nearly 2000 tonnes of waste, later it would be in a position to process as much as 4,000 tonnes based on obsolete technology will distort capital city’s waste management beyond repair.

The proposed polluting technology to deal with the waste from South Delhi, North West Delhi and East Delhi is fraught with disastrous public health consequences for which two companies namely, Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company (TOWMCL) and the Unique Waste Processing Company (subsidiary of IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited have been set up.

As per the agreement, BRPL will procure 50 per cent of the 16 MW electricity to be produced by TOWMCL at its plant in Okhla in the vicinity of numerous residential areas such as Sukhdev Vihar, Hazi Colony, Gaffar Manzil and others. The plant being set up plans to process over 6,43,500 lakh metric tonnes or one third of Delhi's Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per year generated in Delhi. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2010-2011. Around 1,300 Tonnes Per Day (TPD) of MSW will be sourced from the Okhla landfill site and 650 TPD from Timarpur. BRPL will procure power at a DERC approved competitive tariff rate, determined by a competitive bidding process. The agreement allows the promoters to sell the remaining 50 per cent electricity through a suitable open access mechanism.

Similar waste to energy project is coming up at Ghazipur, Delhi as well. Earlier, in November, 2009 BRPL had signed a 25-year-agreement to procure 49 per cent of the electricity generated from garbage to energy project at Ghazipur. Chief Minister referred to this project as well while laying the foundation stone.

Unmindful of the environmental and human cost the installation of proposed municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy plants in Ghazipur, Timarpur and Okhla, based on incineration of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) is being pursued. This compelled the residents to move to the Delhi High Court. Earlier, the matter came up for hearing on December 11, 2009 wherein the petitioners (Sukhdev Vihar Residents Welfare Association & others) pointed out the polluting nature of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Incineration technology and how both the central government and the Delhi government has misled the court. The court in its latest order has found that it was misled earlier which had led to it dismissing the petition which has now been restored before the Delhi High Court. In the presence of A.S. Chandihok, Additional Solicitor General, the bench headed by the Chief Justice, Delhi High Court in an order dated 15th January, 2010 observed, “that the project in question” and “the location of the pilot project in Delhi was neither recommended by the Expert Committee nor approved by the Supreme Court.”

Also East Delhi Waste Processing Company Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle of the latter company is working for generating electricity at the Ghazipur site with the support of the Delhi Government. ‘New Delhi Waste Processing Company Private Limited’ a Joint Venture company of Delhi Government, IL&FS and APTTDC is supporting the project as well. The integrated municipal waste-processing complex is proposed to include a MSW processing plant at Ghazipur to produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) along with a power plant of 10 MW capacity where the RDF derived from the waste will be used as fuel to produce electricity. It is supposed to handle an average 1300 tons per day. It claims that 111,949 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum of greenhouse gases would be reduced. The crediting period for the project is from 1st November, 2010 to 31 October, 2020.

The Timarpur-Okhla carbon credit project was registered on 10th November, 2007 with a claim to reduce greenhouse gases to the tune of 262,791 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum. Unique Waste Processing Company, a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Centre (APTDC) has incorporated Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company for developing the project for processing municipal waste and also to produce electricity at two locations namely Timarpur and Okhla, at the site at Okhla that is adjacent to defunct Okhla Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). TOWMCL is working with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and MCD. The Timarpur and Okhla plant will together be processing 650 tonnes per day of MSW at Timarpur site and 1300 tonnes per day of MSW at Okhla and claims to generate 16 MW of electricity.

The move underway to install RDF plants in Delhi and several other state capitals is an environmentally unsustainable solution, which should be deemed unacceptable. If Delhi allows such toxic plant, it will set a bad precedent for other cities. It raises serious concerns about the health and safety of the citizens, which such a technology, will jeopardize.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon the policy makers to exclude "waste," "waste resources," "waste pelletisation", "waste incineration," "pyrolysis," "gasification" technologies from qualifying as renewable energy or fuel and also exclude renewable energy subsidy/loan programs for burn technology based waste to energy programs and policies. The high cost routes must be avoided and instead only appropriate methods such as small-scale bio-methanation, composting and proper recycling be propagated.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Integrated Plant Nutrient Management did not encourage WTE policy and has recommended setting up of 1000 compost plants all over the country and has allocated Rs. 800 crore for the same. Even Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, as the President rightly summed up the need for Integrated Zero Waste Management. He has illustrated it by referring to a village of 2,400 families, which generates garbage of over 48 tonnes per year. This garbage is converted into manure and recyclable waste generating over Rs 3 lakh in revenue. This scheme provides employment to people of the Panchayat. Such measures promote sustainable development as against the current trend of introducing failed polluting technologies, which turn citizens into guinea pigs for experiments.

The incentives and subsidies should be offered in areas of `cold' technologies alone, which are suited to our country economically, socially and also to our wastes. The ideal resource management strategy for MSW is to avoid its generation in the first place. This implies changing production and consumption patterns to eliminate the use of disposable, non-reusable, non-returnable products and packaging. The alternative waste disposal methods include waste reduction, waste segregation at source, extended use and refuse, recycling, biomethanation technology and composting.

In view of these grave concerns, we request you to direct the concerned authorities to take preventive steps in order to save Delhi's environment from highly polluting plants in residential areas.

Thanking You

Warm Regards
Gopal Krishna
Convener
ToxicsWatch Alliance
New Delhi
Mb: 9818089660
Website: www.toxicswatch.com
Blog: toxicswatch.blogspot.com

Shashi Pandit
Bhartiya Kachra Intzamia Andolan
Mb: 9968413109

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Rally Against Toxic Waste Incinerator Plant in Sukhdev Vihar

Rally Against Toxic Waste Incinerator Plant in Sukhdev Vihar, Oklha

Incinerator based Waste-to-energy plant of Government of Delhi and Jindal Ecopolis faces bitter opposition from residential colonies, environmental groups and waste recycling workers. Nukkad Natak campaign against waste incinerator drawing huge crowds.
Its part of an ongoing campaign against the proposed Dioxins emitting factory.

Venue: Sukhdev Vihar, in front of DDA Flats
Time: 11 AM onwards

For more details see: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Okhla-ka-Ghosla/112310532173391

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NHRC Sponsorship of Jaipur Literature Festival

To

The Chairman
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
New Delhi

Subject- Sponsorship of Jaipur Literature Festival

Sir,

This is with reference to the Jaipur Literature Festival, I wish to draw your attention towards the fact that NHRC is listed as one of the co-sponsors of it along with some agencies and companies whose track record is ridden with rampant human rights violations.

I wish inform you about the background of some these sponsors of the festival briefly because it presents a disturbing picture:
• In the inspection of scam ridden Commonwealth Games, Central Vigilance Commission had observed that DSC Limited as having been awarded 23% higher rates
• Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company has been deemed guilty of collusion with fascist and racist regimes and faces allegations of human, labour and environmental rights violations around the world and over decades
• Shell Oil Company, the largest energy company and the second-largest company in the world in terms of revenues has been deemed responsible for the death of Ken Saro Wiwa, the Nigerian author and environmental activist

I submit that NHRC must examine the immorality of becoming a co-sponsor along with the killers Ken Saro Wiwa, the Nigerian author and environmental activist who was posthumously elected to the United Nations Environment Programme's, Global 500 Roll of Honour for advancing environmental protection. In his closing statement to the Nigerian Military appointed Tribunal that condemned him to death, Saro Wiwa said: “Shell is here on trial…the Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come…The crime of the Company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.”

This literature festival has been co-sponsored by Coca Cola Company which is accused of running water-intensive bottling plants in Plachimada, Kerala and Kala Dera, Rajasthan have dried up groundwater and local wells, forcing residents to rely on water supplies from outside the areas. The same situation is witnessed in and around the areas of some 52 water-intensive bottling plants of the company in India.
We find the manner of celebration of literature in which NHRC is involved along with those companies and agencies that are involved in genocides, civil wars, war crimes, aggression, occupation, protecting despots and fraudulent financialization quite disturbing.

We appeal to you to be circumspect about the programs NHRC sponsors and the co-sponsors of those programs and be wary of corporate crimes and their acts against humanity.

Yours Sincerely

Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, Mb: 9818089660, Email:krishna2777@gmail.com

Prakash K Ray, Jawaharlal Nehru University Researchers Association, Mb: 9873313315, E-mail-pkray11@gmail.com

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Statement for Reflection on Jaipur & Galle Literature Festival

Statement for Reflection on Jaipur & Galle Literature Festival

Incest is a reality but perhaps all civilizations have been wary of it.

Jaipur Literature Festival that began as ‘civil society’ initiative in 2006 has developed into a DSC Limited sponsored festival of literature for the last five years. It is time one ponders over the public relations exercise and the facade of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of companies that sponsor and partner for this festival. If one examines the credentials of some of the sponsors of the festival briefly, it presents a disturbing picture:
• In the inspection of scam ridden Commonwealth Games, Central Vigilance Commission had observed that DSC Limited as having been awarded 23% higher rates
• Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company has been deemed guilty of collusion with fascist and racist regimes and faces allegations of human, labour and environmental rights violations around the world and over decades
• Shell Oil Company, the largest energy company and the second-largest company in the world in terms of revenues has been deemed responsible for the death of Ken Saro Wiwa, the Nigerian author and environmental activist

Is it possible for the delegates at the festival to give voice to their moral outrage and support the message of National Union of Ogoni Students dated 4th January, 2011 issued to mark the 18th anniversary of the UN declaration of the “year of the indigenous peoples” appealing to the Dutch Parliament to break its silence by making the Shell Oil Company liable for the exploitation of Ogoni people, their environmental and its role in the destabilization of Niger Delta communities and its demand that the Shell Oil be expelled from Nigeria?

Isn’t literature interested in truth? Or does it not seek opportunities to allow itself to be co-opted by powers of all ilks so that they can facilitate the maintenance of that power?

Is literature interested only in lies that create a make belief reality and conceptual gymnastics about people’s interest while serving commercial czars?

If writers at the festival believe that a better life is possible and should be achieved, it would be germane for them to ponder how being complicit in promoting status quo is contrary to their beliefs?
Is it not possible that a literature festival supported by unethical and immoral business enterprises is an exercise aimed at ‘clinical manipulation’ masquerading as a feel good event akin to be an ‘act of hypnosis’?

Do this festival and its participants have the emotional and intellectual depth to fathom the cognitive ramifications of 'full spectrum dominance' ideology on the present and future generations?
The writers at the festival must ponder over: what is the immoral equivalent of taking sponsorship from the killers Ken Saro Wiwa, the Nigerian author and environmental activist who was posthumously elected to the United Nations Environment Programme's, Global 500 Roll of Honour for advancing environmental protection? Saro Wiwa said in his closing statement to the Nigerian Military appointed Tribunal that condemned him to death: “Shell is here on trial…the Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come…The crime of the Company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.”

Will a literature festival that gets sponsored by Coca Cola Company be saved from the moral responsibility to consider the fact that the Company’s water-intensive bottling plants in Plachimada, Kerala and Kala Dera, Rajasthan have dried up groundwater and local wells, forcing residents to rely on water supplies from outside the areas? The same situation is witnessed in and around the areas of some 52 water-intensive bottling plants of the company in India.
Will a literature festival that gets sponsored by those governments which are involved in genocides, civil wars, war crimes, aggression, occupation, protecting despots and fraudulent financialization have the conscience to examine as to why there are some 702 military installations of world’s super power throughout the world in 132 countries along with 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads?

How is possible for the literary minds to probe the psyche of ‘infantile insanity’ if it allows itself to be inundated by it?

“A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician”, said Harold Pinter while delivering his speech at the award of Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. He added, “...to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.”

One hopes the Jaipur Literary festival will pay heed to Pinter’s advice and undo its unwitting acts of Faustian bargain before it is too late.

We appeal to the writers attending the festival that commenced on 21st January, 2011 to condemn corporate crimes and state sponsored acts against humanity.

We the undersigned urge the authors to stay away from the Galle Literary Festival, Sri Lanka which is due to open on January 26, 2011 in Sri Lanka which notes that the “…war crimes in the final months of the fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels was possible because Colombo did not allow free access to independent journalists.” It adds, "While mounting evidence of Sri Lanka's war crimes is being shown around the world, journalists inside the country cannot talk about them or even visit the northern areas because they are afraid that they will disappear or be killed".

Like the Jaipur Literature Festival, the Galle Literary Festival Sri Lankan is organised as a private initiative, but has the backing of state enterprises in the country.

We find the manner of celebration of literature in a land where journalistic activities and writers have been “transformed into propaganda mouthpieces for the government, or into flaccid shells of their former integrity, bullied into submission through draconian pieces of legislation or emergency regulations” in the context of violent insurgencies or civil wars quite disturbing.

Sd-
Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, Mb: 9818089660, Email:krishna2777@gmail.com
Prakash K Ray, Jawaharlal Nehru University Researchers Association, Mb: 9873313315, E-mail-pkray11@gmail.com

Endorsed by

Abhishek Srivastava, Journalist, New Delhi, Mb: 9350352421, Email: guru.abhishek@gmail.com

Surya Shankar Dash, Filmmaker, Bhubaneswar, orissa, email:dash.suryashankar@gmail.com

Jitendra Kumar, Journalist, New Delhi

Pankaj Srivastava, Journalist, New Delhi

Shashikant, Freelance Journalist, Delhi, Mb: 9868035096,          Email:shashikanthindi@gmail.com

Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham, New York

Subhash Gatade, Journalist and Activist, New Delhi

Amit Ranjan, Research Scholar, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi

Anand Swaroop Verma, Samkaleen Teesri Dunia, New Delhi

Ramji Yadav, Writer, New Delhi

Panini Anand, Journalist, New Delhi

*The list of partners and sponsors of Jaipur Literature Festival is attached

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Carbon Capture & Sequestration Project Leaking

A Comment: When these sequestration projects were being proposed, I had an intuition CO2 would leak out of the ground. I have always felt it too risky to trust.

This is has monumental implications: Pumping C02 underground is totally unreliable as a means of permanently removing it from the atmosphere.

The level of risk and uncertainty in general that industry and science are willing to engage in continues to surprise me. I guess humans love to gamble.

Carbon capture project leaking into their land, couple says

NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE

CALGARY— From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011

First there were the strange blooms of algae on water that had pooled in a gravel pit near Jane and Cameron Kerr’s house. Then there were the dead animals – a cat, an African goat, a rabbit, a duck, a half-dozen blackbirds. Then there were the night-time blowouts, which sounded like cannons and left gashes in the side of the pit.

But what started as a series of worrisome problems on a rural Saskatchewan property has now raised serious questions about the safety of carbon sequestration and storage, a technology that has drawn billions in spending from governments and industry, which have promoted it as a salve to Canada’s growth in greenhouse-gas emissions.

Before the blowouts made them nervous enough to leave home, the Kerrs lived on a farm near Weyburn, which is home to a major project that involves taking captured carbon dioxide and injecting it into the ground. It pumps 6,000 tonnes of the substance underground ever day; since 2000, it has sequestered more than 16 million tonnes, all of it 1.4 kilometres below the surface.

In Weyburn, the injected gas is used to help squeeze more oil out of old wells. But the project has been a key test of a technology that could help clean up atmospheric emissions from industrial users like coal-fired electrical plants and oil sands.

Carbon capture and storage holds the promise of allowing industry to continue operating while scrubbing out carbon emissions. As such, it has become a key plank of climate-change strategy for both the federal Conservatives and the government of Alberta, which has dedicated $2-billion to funding several pilot projects.

Industry says it is perfectly safe, a conclusion echoed by a massive $40-million study for the International Energy Agency that received funding from 10 companies and governments in Canada and Europe.

One company immediately countered parts of the Kerrs’ story, arguing that other factors could be to blame for the strange occurrences, since carbon dioxide has never been injected below their property. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said there is “nothing proven by the incident,” although he promised the government will examine the occurrences.

“I haven’t seen any evidence to tell me that it’s not safe, but we’re doing the homework. We’re going to ask all the questions,” he said.

Still, the Kerrs’ account has cast a stark light on the problems that could arise from carbon sequestration. Their troubles began in 2003, when the farming couple dug a gravel pit to supply aggregate to Encana Corp., the company that was then in charge of the Weyburn project.

When the snow melted the following spring, they found that large cones of algae had developed in the bottom of the pit. It was an unusual discovery.

“Dad used to have gravel pits back into the 1960s, and you never had that,” Mr. Kerr said. “You could dig a gravel pit and get down there and drink the water, it was that clean. I wouldn’t do that today.”

The algae bloom was just the beginning. Mr. Kerr saw “slicks of red that looked like blood had come onto it. And there were dead animals around it.”

When the blowouts happened, they were accompanied by foam that shot out, looking as if someone had shaken a great underground pop can. More worrisome, the strange events seemed to coincide. “We’d be out to the pond and notice a blue slick and go back three hours later and find a rabbit that dropped dead,” Ms. Kerr said.

To them, it appeared obvious what had happened: Carbon dioxide from the Weyburn injections had begun seeping to the surface. That explained the foam – since carbon dioxide is what makes pop fizzy – and it explained the animal deaths, since the gas can cause asphyxiation.

They fought with the government of Saskatchewan, and received a pledge in 2007 for a year-long study. They say that promise wasn’t kept, forcing them to hire their own consultant. In October, their suspicions were confirmed – 25 soil tests showed levels of carbon dioxide as high as 110,000 parts per million, or nearly 70 times what Paul Lafleur, the consultant, considered normal.

Levels that high, especially near a home, “could be very dangerous,” concluded Mr. Lafleur, who said faults in the rock beneath the Kerr property likely allowed “micro-seepage” of carbon dioxide, which then found its way to the surface. Most damning of all: The fingerprint of the carbon dioxide he sampled matched what was being injected, he said.

But scientists who have reviewed Mr. Lafleur’s report say it’s not clear that he has proven such a match – and research in the area casts doubt on whether those high levels are, in fact, unusual. In 2001, before the Weyburn injections began in earnest, scientists collected samples across the area. One found 125,000 parts per million of carbon dioxide.

In addition, Cenovus Energy Inc., the company that now runs Weyburn, said the Kerr property has never seen carbon injections, adding it is very unlikely that the substance could have travelled there underground. Cenovus has hired independent consultants to review Mr. Lafleur’s report. They have not yet completed their work, but “as Cenovus, we’re confident that our carbon dioxide is not affecting the Kerrs’ property,” said spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari.

“And we’re not just saying that. There have been tests done over and over again by external consultants to prove that as well.”

The Saskatchewan government also argues that it did make good on its pledge to study the Kerr property. Officials took air, water and soil samples and concluded in a 2008 report that there was nothing wrong.

The Weyburn project “is the largest laboratory in the world, and it is being studied to death by numerous eminent scientists,” said Ed Dancsok, an assistant deputy minister in Saskatchewan Energy and Resources.

Some have come from such institutions as the British Geological Survey and the University of Rome that have little incentive to colour their findings in favour of industry.

And, Mr. Dancsok said, “no evidence of carbon dioxide originating from the reservoir has been observed in any of the surveys undertaken.”

With a report from Trevor Melanson

For comments visit: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/carbon-capture-project-leaking-into-their-land-couple-says/article1866299/comments/

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NHRC's Recommendations on Endosulfan

NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

FARIDKOT HOUSE

NEW DELHI

Name of the complainant : Suo motu

Case No. : 477/11/6/2010

Date : 31st December, 2010

CORAM

Justice Shri K.G.Balakrishnan, Chairperson

Justice Shri B.C.Patel, Member

Shri Satyabrata Pal, Member

PROCEEDINGS

In 2001, taking cognizance of reports in the media that the aerial spraying of the pesticide endosulfan in the District of Kasaragod in Kerala had led to severe health hazards, the Commission asked the Indian Council of Medical Research for a report which was submitted in July, 2002 by one of its constituent institutions, the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), after a thorough environment epidemiological study, conducted to rigorous scientific standards, and which took into account earlier investigations and surveys.

The two most important conclusions of the study were:-

"There is significant higher prevalence of neurobehaviourial disorders, congenital malformations in female subjects and abnormalities related to male reproductive system in the study group (Padre village, Enmakaje Panchayat) as compared to the reference group (Miyapadvadu village of Meenja Panchayat)

Regarding the aetiological factors, responsible for these health problems, various factors were compared and it was found that the two groups differed mainly with respect to aerial spray of endosulfan. Therefore, the most probable cause for the health problems in the study area could be relatively high and continued exposures to endosulfan through various environmental media such as food, water, soil and air."

Based on these conclusions, the NIOH made a series of recommendations among which the most important were the following-

"The possibility of endocrine disrupting effect of endosulfan observed in the study has great relevance to the health of the future generations. Considering the potentiality of grave consequence, the Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration of the Earth Summit should be followed. This relates to the precautionary principle and emphasizes that lack of scientific certainty is no reason to postpone action to avoid potentially serious or irreversible harm to the environment.

The populations included in the present study should be followed up for the detection of endocrine related cancers……..

The affected persons should be provided relief."

The Commission has been informed that, though the Government of Kerala forbids the use of endosulfan, this ban has been easily circumvented. In Kasargod, aerial spraying stopped in 2000, but the problems studied by the NIOH continue with a new generation of children being affected, this confirms the fears that the NIOH expressed about the impact of endosulfan, once absorbed in the environment, on the health of future generations.

The Commission found this deeply disturbing and asked the Government of India for its views. It has been informed by the Ministry of Agriculture that the Government does not believe endosulfan causes problems and as a State Party to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, opposes efforts to have it listed as one of the Annex A Chemicals, which are those that must be eliminated. The Commission was also informed that the Government of India has asked the ICMR to review the NIOH study.

Taking cognizance of fresh reports received in November, 2010, the Commission sent a team of its officers to do an independent investigation, which confirmed a continued high incidence of the medical disorders recorded by the NIOH, and found that the relief sanctioned by the Government of Kerala has made very little impact because it is meagre, irregular and sometimes siphoned off before it reaches the intended beneficiaries.

The Commission finds this inexplicable because developments abroad have vindicated and gone beyond the conclusions that the NIOH reached in 2002. In the eight years that have elapsed since then, endosulfan has been banned in over 60 countries including all the major industrial nations, not because it was an inefficient pesticide, but because independent studies there had confirmed that its commercial utility was far outweighed by the great harm it caused to human health, to flora and fauna, and to the environment. The governments of these countries, therefore, put the right to health of their citizens, the lives of future generations and the protection of the environment above the commercial interests of the producers and users of endosulfan.

At the last meeting of the Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention in October, 2010, which recommended that endosulfan should be listed as an Annex A chemical, the Commission is told that India called for a vote, in which it was the only country that voted against.

The Government of India claimed at that meeting and in its response to the Commission, that there is no scientific basis for the action recommended by the experts of the Stockholm Convention or for the ban already imposed by other nations. The Commission is at a loss to understand the logic of this stand. The countries that have banned endosulfan are those that have access to the most advanced scientific research, they include the U.S., the EU, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, which have taken their decision on the basis of scientific data and studies.

The Government of India does indeed have independent but similar scientific evidence. The comprehensive scientific study carried out by the NIOH confirmed, well before this was accepted in some other countries that have now imposed a ban, that endosulfan had serious and long-term effects on health and on the environment. When it claims a lack of scientific evidence, the Government of India is either being disingenuous or disowning the work of the premier institute of medical research that it has set up. Its directives to the ICMR to review its study implies that the Government finds its conclusions inconvenient. The Commission is as deeply troubled by the implications of this stand as by the consequences it has already had on human rights in India and quite possibly in other countries to which Indian companies have exported endosulfan.

The Commission reiterates that the present stand of the Government of India has led and will continue to lead to grave violations of human rights. Since endosulfan is a persistent organic pollutant, the dangers it poses will linger and multiply through the generations, causing harm on a scale that cannot presently be fully quantified.

In a Writ Petition O.P. Nos.20716 and 17026 of 2002 filed as Public Interest Litigation before the High Court of Kerala against the use of endosulfan, the Learned Single Judge (Shri Srikrishna C.J., as he then was) made the following observations:-

"After anxious soul-searching, we have reached the conclusion that between the two alternative, we must err on the safer side and choose the alternative which has less dangerous implications. If, ultimately, it is proved that ENDOSULFAN is an innocuous substance, not toxic and dangerous to human life and health, prohibiting its sale and distribution for a few months may perhaps result in nothing more than economic loss to the manufacturers. It is not as if the agricultural production in this country would come to a stand still if ENDOSULFAN is not used. There are several other insecticides which are registered under the Insecticides Act which could be used with equal efficiency. On the other hand, if it turns out that it is a toxic substance and its continued use had adverse effects on human beings and life and environment, we would have endangered life and health of the citizens. We have, therefore, decided to choose the lesser evil and, purely as a precautionary measure, to impose a temporary ban on the use of ENDOSULFAN within the State pending the decision of the Central Government on consideration of the report of the expert committee appointed by it. We hope that the Central Government will expedite its decision."

The Commission called for a meeting of its Core Group of Health on 24th December, 2010 and the members of the Core Group unanimously expressed the view that the use of endosulfan be banned in India.

Basing itself on the findings of the NIOH study, which in the opinion of its authors, continue to be valid, and those of the Commission's team, which in December, 2010, looked at the problems that the victims continue to face, together with the advise of the distinguished medical specialists on its Core Group on Health, with whom it has urgently consulted, the Commission makes the following recommendations:-

To the Government of India, it recommends that:-

1. The Government to take administrative and legislative action to ban the use of endosulfan.

2. Conduct a nation-wide survey of populations that have been affected by the use of endosulfan, particularly sprayed from the air, to determine the scope of relief and rehabilitation that may be needed.

3. Supplement the efforts of the Government of Kerala (and of other State Governments where victims of endosulfan use are found) in the provision of relief and long-term rehabilitation; and

4. Join the international consensus at the next meeting in April, 2011 of the State Parties of the Stockholm Convention and permit the listing of endosulfan as an Annex A chemical.

5. As the victims are in large number about six thousand in small locality of eleven villages namely Kayyur-Cheemeni, Ajanur, Pullur-Periya, Kallar, Panathady, Muliyar, Karadka, Kumbadje, Badiadka, Bellur and Enmakaje, a Centrally Sponsored Palliative Care Centre/Hospital should be established for Kasaragod District and sufficient and effective ambulance services be provided to all physically handicapped or mentally retarded victims with adequate and trained staff. State Government should render all help to establish the said Palliative Care Centre/Hospital.

To the Government of Kerala, the Commission recommends that:-

1. The State should pay at least Rs.five lakhs to the next of kin of those who died and to those who were fully bed ridden/unable to move without help or mentally retarded and Rs.three lakhs to those who have got other disability. A panel of doctor may assess the extent of physical disability to classify the categories of victims. The Union of India shall give adequate financial help to the State Government.

2. Conduct a survey of other populations that might also have been affected by the use of endosulfan including in Palakkad where there are reports of similar problems faced by villagers.

3. Increase the quantum of relief and rehabilitation for victims and their families, and ensure that it is paid regularly and in full.

4. Improve the facilities for diagnosis, treatment and therapy available at hospitals and health centres that tend to the victims, while ensuring that at least one of them is equipped and staffed to offer advanced care and all Primary Health Centres in the eleven villages which are seriously affected may be upgraded to Community Health Centres.

Response within eight weeks.

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