ToxicsWatch, Journal of Earth, Science, Economy and Justice

Letter to Union Ministry of Water Resources

Sir,

This is with reference to the draft National Water Policy, 2012 released on 31-January, 2012. It has been announced that citizens of India can comments till 29th February, 2012.

We submit that before putting the draft policy in front of National Water Board and National Water Resources Council for finalization and adoption, the comment period for draft policy must be extended by ate least another 3 months so that the policy can be discussed at till the panchayat and district level.

In the last fortnight I have visited Bihar and Jharkhand and have learnt that there isn’t any awareness about the draft policy in even in the state capitals.

We submit that the policy continues with the colonial legacy of treating land and water as separate issues although it is a universal fact that both co-exist. I submit that Section 1.2 of the draft National Water Policy is a sad commentary on the achievements of Ministry of Water Resources so far given the fact that after spending over Rs. 180,000 crores since 1991-92 the irrigated area remains stagnant to the status 2 decades ago.

In this context submit that the flood prone area of the country has increased from 25 million ha at the beginning of the plan period to nearly double that 49.82 mha in 2012. The lay out on flood control for the12th Five Year Plan is estimated at Rs. 55,440 crores.

We submit that Section 3.2 fails to define the norms for deciding the ecological flow and the authority who would do so.

We submit that Section 5.4 that deals with artificial recharging of ground water fails to fine-tune its policy with industrial and agricultural policy.

We submit that Section 5.5 is ecologically insensitive. It is akin to the ecologically disastrous plan to rewrite geography of India in particular and South Asia in general. This will disrupt river basins through diversion of rivers beyond river as has happened in the case of two Siberian rivers that led to drying up of Aral Sea.

It must be noted that Union Minister for Water Resources had informed the Rajya Sabha on September 5, 2011 that National Water Development Agency (NWDA) "has taken up works for preparation of DPR of 2 intra state links namely Kosi-Mechi Link and Burhi-Gandak -None-Baya- Ganga link of Bihar. He also informed that NWDA was set up under the Union Ministry of Water Resources "in 1982 for carrying out various technical studies to establish the feasibility of the proposals of for National Prospective Plan (NPP) for interlinking of Rivers and to give concrete shape to them." But by not informing the Rajya Sabha that National Prospective Plan (NPP) for interlinking of Rivers was rejected in September 1999 by a high powered National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Management, the ministry chose to keep the august house in dark.

We submit that on February 27, 2012, the bench of Chief Justice of India has been misled into passing seemingly executive orders for the execution of interlinking of rivers because the recommendations of the Report of the National Commission for Water Resource Development was not brought to his notice. The same happened in October 2002 when the initial order was passed on the basis of the flawed assumption that there is consensus among the states which got revealed through the Terms of Reference of the Task Force that was constituted for interlinking of rivers.

The policy feigns ignorance about the relevant recommendations of the two volume Report of the National Commission for Water Resource Development set up by the Union Ministry of Water Resources. Volume-I of the report says: “The Himalayan river linking data is not freely available, but on the basis of public information, it appears that the Himalayan river linking component is not feasible for the period of review up to 2050.” The report underlines that the problems are in the entire plan of linking the Himalayan rivers. It also shows that centre and the state government refuse to learn from the embankment disaster and drainage crisis in the Kosi basin.

It is germane to note that out of 30 links in the controversial national plan to network rivers through diversion there are six links in the Himalayan component which were related to Bihar, one of which has been rejected by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its study on “Economic Impact of Interlinking of Rivers Programme” in April 2008. These six links are: Kosi-Mechi Link Canal, Kosi-Ghaghara Link Canal, Sone dam-Southern tributaries of Ganga Link Canal, Chunar-Sone Barrage Link Canal, Brahmaputra - Ganga (Manas- Sankosh- Teesta- Ganga Link Canal and Gandak-Ganga Canal. Brahmaputra - Ganga (Manas- Sankosh- Teesta- Ganga Link Canal has been dropped as per NCAER study.

We submit that as per the 10th Plan document, there were 1,300 irrigation projects that have been taken up for implementation, out of which, only 900 have actually been completed. Even Shri Jairam Ramesh who later became Union Environment Minister and currently the Union Rural Development Minister contended in the Rajya Sabha saying, "in this country today, there are 400 irrigation projects being implemented at some critical levels of financing, and I think, really this reinforces the point that I want to make that it is really project implementation, projects under implementation, that need to be completed. You don't need a new category called 'projects under contemplation'". Both state and central project are 'projects under contemplation'. It seems to be a political escape route akin to Ostrich policy instead of proposing decentralized and workable projects with public consent.

The fact is that interlinking of rivers project is based on the flawed assumption that there are surplus and deficit rivers. It is claimed that 220 bcm of water can be usefully transferred. As per 11th Five Year Plan document, "there are apprehensions that the assessed surplus is somewhat illusory for many basins and future generations would actually need all the water." It takes congnisance of "reservations about the economic viability of such large projects. Environmental concerns would need to be addressed through the environmental appraisal process of each project."

We submit that Section 10.2 appears good as it envisages that part of the rehabilitation cost should be paid by the beneficiaries of the project but it is valid only when the stated objectives of the project have been met and the beneficiaries get the promised deal.

The draft policy failed to adopt a land-water policy but it is adopting such land-water related projects that will rupture rivers basins.

Yours faithfully

Gopal Krishna, convener, ToxicsWatch Alliance, New Delhi, Mb: 7739308480, 09818089660

Pushpraj, Journalist and author of Nandigram Diary, Patna, Mb: 09431862080

Shashi Sagar, Journalist, Patna, Mb:09308912720

Press Note

Dow Chemicals monitoring activists, influencing Prime Minister’s office & senior law makers

Stop Companies Bill, 2011 legitimizing corporate funding of political parties

Nuclear legislations compromised under illegitimate influence

New Delhi 28/2/2012: Revelations of WikiLeaks that began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor on February 27th, 2012 has proven that the company provided confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Dow Chemical Company that owns Union Carbide Corporation and has the liability for Bhopal’s industrial disaster.

These revelations must be looked in the backdrop of UPA government’s contempt towards Parliament’s intent of Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 that was
undermined through the notification of Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Rules, 2011, an act of subordinate legislation ahead of Prime Minister's meeting with US President on November 18, 2011 at Bali, Indonesia by limiting the liability period from 80 years to 5 years for the culprits of the nuclear accidents. There was such an unprecedented hurry that the government did not have time to consider why countries after countries are giving up nuclear energy option. It did not even wait for the proposed Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill to be passed and re-examine the views of at least 8 secretaries of Government of India who have expressed reservations about nuclear plants in their own way in their testimony to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests.

On the same day, Dow Chemicals Company’s Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, but the same was not disclosed until the return of the Prime Minister. The affidavit stated, “The Union of India (UOI)’s Curative Petition seeks to invalidate the final settlement of all claims arising out of the Bhopal disaster, which was approved twice over by the Supreme Court of India over two decades ago. The Petition is an affront to the rule of law – completely unfounded, both legally and factually.” Unlike in India, in the US Dow settled a case brought against its subsidiary UCC by workers exposed to asbestos in the workplace in January 2002. The case was filed before acquisition of Union Carbide by Dow. Carbide’s new owner, Dow reached a settlement in the case. The company has set aside $2.2 billion to address future liabilities. Globally companies facing asbestos liabilities seem to be in the process of setting up compensation fund-as an out of court settlement exercise- to escape further civil and criminal liability for knowingly exposing workers, their families and consumers domestically and the world over. How is it that UCC is liable for deaths and diseases due to asbestos exposure in the US but it is not so for deaths and diseases caused by UCC’s Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster.

Is it any wonder that Dow Chemicals Company cites on its website the opinion of two senior office bearers of BJP and Indian National Congress in their “Q and A with respect of the Government of India’s request for a Curative Petition”? in the matter of Bhopal’s industrial disaster?. Dow says, “according to the formal legal opinions of two respected Indian jurists, Senior Counsel, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mr. Arun Jaitely, Dow cannot be found liable under the laws of India. (See the full opinions at: Mr. Arun_Jaitley_Opinion_EXPARTE.pdf, http://www.dow.com/sustainability/debates/pdfs/Arun_Jaitley_Opinion_EXPARTE.pdf; Dr.Abhishek_Manu_Singhvi.pdf,http://www.dow.com/sustainability/debates/pdfs/Dr.Abhishek_Manu_Singhvi_\
March_03_2006.pdf )”. Dr Singhvi gave his 10 page opinion on the letterhead of National Spokesperson of Indian National Congress. Mr Jaitely gave his 15 page opinion on the letter head of the Senior Advocate having phone numbers which is used by him as Member of Parliament. Corporate funding and influence manifests itself in myriad disguises.
Clause 182 of the Companies Bill, 2011 that was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 14, 2011 that seeks to provide the manner and limits up to which a company shall be able to contribute the amount to any political party or to any person for a political purpose. It reads as follows: Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, a company, other than a Government company and a company which has been in existence for less than three financial years, may contribute any amount directly or indirectly to any political party: Provided that the amount referred to in sub-section (1) or, as the case may be, the aggregate of the amount which may be so contributed by the company in any financial year shall not exceed seven and a half per cent of its average net profits during the three immediately preceding financial years:

Referring to the “global intelligence” company Stratfor,WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange said, "This is an organisation that just does not collect information through bribes, insiders, it is also an organisation that acts on that information to subvert particular groups. Stratfor spies or monitors activists seeking redress over the Bhopal tragedy which killed thousands in India." What will be the consequence of a similar company contributing 7.5 % of the annual profit to political parties in India as per Companies Bill, 2011?
Wikileaks revelations show how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical seeking redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal that led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.
(Read more at the-gifiles.html The same can be downloaded as torrent archive of the gifiles site at wlstorage.net/torrent/gifiles/).
These instances have established that Government of India is not acting as parens patriae (guardian of the nation) as it claimed at the time of passing the Bhopal Gas Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985 in the case against USA’s Union Carbide Corporation, currently owned by USA’s Dow Chemicals Company. It seems that corporations are attempting to become the illegitimate guardian of the government.

For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 07739308480, 09818089660, E-mail: krishna1715@gmail.com Web: toxicswatch.blogspot.com
Note: The attached 55 page PMO documents shows manifest collusion between ministers, officials and Dow Chemicals to protect it from the liabilities of Industrial catastrophe of Bhopal. The documents reveal how some of the ministers who have been made part of Group of Ministers (GoM) by the Prime Minister have been acting to safeguard the interest of the US corporation in question, which is liable for Bhopal disaster.
The GoM that has been constituted does not inspire confidence. Notably, the GoM, headed by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, was constituted on May 26, 2010 by the PM's Office. The documents gathered using RTI reveal how Chidambaram and Kamal Nath have already expressed their support for Dow Chemical Company's proposal to save it from Union Carbide Corporation's liability which it inherited in 2001 after merger.

In a letter dated November 10, 2006, Chidambaram wrote to the Prime Minister about his visit to United Sates to review issues with the Indo-US CEO Forum in New York wherein he submitted a tour report mentioning his comments on Ahluwalia’s note. Referring to the matter of Dow Chemicals, Ratan Tata’s offer for remediation, he stated has stated, “I think we should accept this offer” in his comments dated 5th December, 2006. In December 2006, Dr S Jaishankar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs in note titled “Issues Emerging from Indo-US CEO’s meeting” underlies how Dow has “sought a statement from GOI (Government of India) in the Court clarifying that GOI does not regard Dow as legally responsible for liabilities UCC” and wants to avoid “cloud of legal liability”.
In February 2007, Kamal Nath even wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the matter. In the letter, despite acknowledging the fact that the matter is sub judice he said “that a group under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary be formed to look” in the matter of the liability of the Dow Chemicals “in holistic manner in a similar manner as was done in respect to the Enron Corporation with respect to Dabhol Corporation”. The immorality of his suggestion lies in the fact that ignores the Enron scandal that led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, a US energy company.

Incidentally, Ratan Tata in his role as the Chairman of the three-member Investment Commission, set up in the Ministry of Finance in December 2004 by the Government of India wrote to P Chidamabram, the then Finance Minister suggesting setting up a Fund for remediation on the site of Bhopal disaster that “would cost approximately Rs 100 crores.”

Donning another hat Tata wrote again as the Chairman, Tata Sons Limited to Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India on October 9, 2006 with regard to resolve “various legacy issues” of “Dow Chemicals” pursuant to the recommendations of the Indo-US CEO Forum pointing out how the Investment Commission has not had “much success” in this regard. He referred to the interest of Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemicals with regard to approaches/solutions to the issue.” Chairman, Tata Sons Limited, Tata wrote again to Montek Singh on November 26, 2006 referring to letter of Andrew Liveris that was sent to Ronen Sen, India’s Ambassador to US wherein a request was made saying that “it is critical for them to have the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers withdraw their application for a financial deposit by Dow against the remediation cost, as that application implies that the Government of India views Dow as ‘liable’ in the Bhopal Gas disaster case.”

Notably, Liveris had complained to Ronen Sen about how “GOI (Government of India) has taken position adverse to Dow“, in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The case is still pending. Chairman, Tata Sons Limited, Tata wrote again this to time to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 5th January 2007 wherein he put on record the meeting of the members of Investment Commission with the PM to discuss “the old Union Carbide tragedy”. The PMO’s letter from the B V R Subramanyam, Private Secretary of the Prime Minister dated January 12, 2007 assured Tata that “the matter is being examined” and “the Prime Minister has seen” his letter and “ has taken note of its contents”.

The core issue that has emerged from the Bhopal’s Industrial Disaster is that it has adversely impacted the Liability Regime for Nuclear Damages. It has emerged that any future liability regime must include criminal liability and must not cap the amount of civil liability because the damage from a nuclear or chemical disaster depends on the direction and nature of the wind at the time of the accident. The liability regime must be internalized in the Companies Bill, 2011 itself.

To

Shri Pranab Mukherjee,

Union Finance Minister

Government of India

New Delhi

Date: 23/2/2012

Subject-Need for budgetary provisions to make India free of lung cancer causing white asbestos fibers

Sir,

This is with reference to the inclusion of asbestos under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna in your 2011-12 Union Budget, I wish to submit that it is hardly sufficient due to almost non-existent environmental and occupational health infrastructure in our country. It is about time this year’s Union Budget put public health ahead of blind profiteering at the cost of the lives of present and future generations in the matter of environmental and occupational health. “The WHO estimates that 24 per cent of global disease burden and 23 per cent of all deaths can be attributed to environmental factors. The burden is more on the developing than the developed countries.” The asbestos promoters and entrepreneurs know exactly what the health consequences would be and still they have misled the government to provide them incentives for long.

I wish to draw your urgent attention in the matter of a serious unprecedented environmental and occupational health crisis with regard to the unnoticed asbestos epidemic in the country due to alarming rise in its consumption encouraged by the fiscal incentives given by the government.

In such a backdrop, there is a compelling reason to ask you to unveil a fiscal regime that discourages manufacturing, procurement and use of all products based on all forms of asbestos including white asbestos (chrysotile).

It is not surprising that "The Government of India is considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in India to protect the workers and the general population against primary and secondary exposure to Chrysotile form of Asbestos." It has noted that "Asbestosis is yet another occupational disease of the Lungs which is on an increase under similar circumstances warranting concerted efforts of all stake holders to evolve strategies to curb this menace". A concept paper by Union Ministry of Labour revealed this at the two-day 5th India-EU Joint Seminar on “Occupational Safety and Health” on 19th and 20th September, 2011. (Reference: http://www.labour.nic.in/lc/Background%20note.pdf)

I submit that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi has sent a notice dated July 6, 2011 to the central government to ascertain the status of diseases caused asbestos fibers in the country. A copy of the notice is attached.

I wish to inform you about the guilty verdict of a court in Turin, Italy that provides legal remedy for a public health and environmental disaster that claimed thousands of lives due to the criminal callousness of asbestos company. The 3-judge panel of the Turin Court, Italy sentenced the owners of asbestos company, the defendants to 16 years in jail on February 13, 2012. In view of the same I urge you to provide a road map for the phase out of asbestos products in the upcoming Budget Session of the Indian Parliament.

I submit that Renato Balduzzi, Italian Health Minister has applauded the verdict by the Turin court as "without exaggeration, truly historic". The silence of India’s Union Health Minister in the matter of public health crisis due to asbestos exposure is deafening but appears understandable because trade in hazardous substances like asbestos does not fall under its ambit.

I wish to inform that the Turin court has ordered asbestos company, Eternit’s owners to pay a total of €95 million in compensation to the families of the victims, to the town of Casale, trade unions and other parties. Damages are also to be determined in a separate civil proceeding to victims’ relatives and to a number of local authorities. I hope that you will initiate steps in the Parliament to equip the legal system so that they can provide remedies to present and future victims of asbestos fibers.
This verdict came in the criminal trial of 64 years old Swiss Stephan Schmidheiny and 89 year old lead Belgian shareholder Louis de Cartier who owned and managed a company called Eternit that made asbestos-cement building products in many countries in Europe, South America, and South Africa. Eternit closed its operations in Italy in 1986. The verdict was read out after 66 hearings. Schmidheiny and Cartier were accused of causing “permanent health and environmental catastrophe” at their asbestos based plants. The victims were exposed to asbestos fibers.

I submit that Indian asbestos products manufacturers are also causing “permanent health and environmental catastrophe” in India. Similar fate awaits the asbestos product manufacturers in India.

I submit that globally asbestos industry is on trial. Countries after countries are passing verdicts against it. They are banning future use of the cancer causing mineral fiber of asbestos. Government of India is publicly revealing that it does not favour new asbestos plants in the country any more. There is a compelling logic emerging for pre-existing asbestos based plants to shift to non-asbestos based building materials.

I submit that there is hardly any building in our country which is asbestos free. It is high time efforts are initiated to decontaminate asbestos laden public and private buildings. It is relevant to note that Kerala State Human Rights Commission has recommended ban on use of asbestos roofs for schools and hospitals in its order dated n 31st January, 2009.

I submit that NHRC has passed an order in Case No: 693/30/97-98 recommending that the asbestos sheets roofing be replaced with roofing made up of some other material that would not be harmful.

I wish to draw your attention towards the fact that asbestos cement based building materials are being used in the Union Rural Development Ministry’s Indira Awas Yojna, this will have grave public health consequences. It is sad that central government’s definition of roofing material includes asbestos cement sheet along with Reinforced Brick Concrete and timber etc as per Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

I submit that unmindful of the impending health crisis, the asbestos cement manufacturers are celebrating thrust given by the central government on rural housing through Indira Awaas Yojana because asbestos cement product sector derives sizeable portion of its demand from rural housing sector and remaining demand from industrial sheds. Central government’s Rs 10, 000 crore worth annual housing flagship scheme, Indira Awaas Yojana endangers the rural poor as its is using carcinogenic asbestos sheets to keep the cost below the ceiling of Rs 45,000 per house under the scheme. The National Human Rights Commission member, Shri Satyabrata Pal, a retired 1972 batch IFS officer has raised questions on the hazards as per a news report (Country’s flagship housing scheme turning out to be a debt trap, Iftikhar Gilani, Dec 26, 2011, DNA). Your immediate intervention can stop the crisis from assuming serious proportion.

I submit that the Annual Report of NHRC 2003-2004 refers to a Report entitled “Asbestos – Health and Environment – an in-depth Study “submitted by the Institute of Public Health Engineers, India. The study underlines that safe and controlled use of asbestos is not possible.

I submit that the year 2011 will be remembered for a successful villagers’ struggle against a asbestos plant proposed by Kolkata based company Balmukund Cement & Roofing Ltd in Chainpur-Bishunpur, Marwan Block, Muzaffarpur district, Bihar that led to the winding up of the plant as per a communication from the Chairman, Bihar State Human Rights Commission.

In view of the incontrovertible adverse health effects asbestos based plants and products should be phased out to protect the lives of present and future generations.

I wish to inform that Union Environment Ministry s Vision Statement on Environment and Human Health says, "Alternatives to asbestos may be used to the extent possible and use of asbestos may be phased out." Despite this environmental clearances are still being given by the central environment. Your intervention can safeguard the life of present and future generations.

May I reiterate that Union Ministry of Chemicals has rightly disassociated itself from countries like Russia and Canada who derailed the international consensus that could have categorised white asbestos (chrysotile) as a hazardous substance.

Sir, if you can take cognizance of the global and national developments, the Union Budget may see the beginning of the end of the asbestos manufacturing industry in India given the fact that it’s mining is already banned by Union Mines Ministry.

In such a backdrop, Union Commerce Ministry should be asked to desist from signing the "Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" with Canada that allows import of Canadian asbestos to India. Incidentally, work is on to decontaminate the offices and homes of members of the Canadian House of Commons which have asbestos. The government has stated publicly that it does not favour new asbestos plants in the country any more.

It is sad that a killer fiber like asbestos which is banned in 55 countries is being used in our country to manufacture asbestos cement sheets disregarding the fatal health impact for present and future generations. Such plants and products should be stopped to save residents from incurable lung cancer like diseases.

I submit that asbestos death toll has surpassed traffic fatalities in Australia. In US, every year 10, 000 people are dying because of asbestos related disease. There is an epidemic of asbestos diseases in Europe. In India, a silent Bhopal disaster is happening every year. The rate of consumption of asbestos in India is rising at an alarming rate due to budgetary support. Nearly all of India's asbestos is mixed with cement to form roofing sheets. Bolstered by asbestos import tariffs that have been reduced from 78% in the mid-1990s to 15% by 2004, the country's asbestos-cement industry is increasing by roughly 10% every year.

I submit that some typical asbestos-based materials include sound insulation infill, thermal insulation lagging, tape, rope, felts, blankets, mattresses, asbestos boards, gaskets and washers, drive belts/ conveyor belts, roofing sheets and slates, drain and flue pipes, rainwater goods, fascia boards, bath panels, ceiling tiles, toilet seats, cisterns, bitumen damp proof course, lining to walls, lab bench tops, extraction hoods and fume cupboards, brakes and clutches, cooling tower elements and others.

I submit that the health consequences are already apparent, but the scale of the problem is not clear because there is no documentation of disease caused by environmental and occupational factors. “The Government of India has a very poor, almost non-existent, system to record death and disease”, explains Arthur Frank from Drexel University , Philadelphia , PA , USA who was in New Delhi in March 2011. Besides, cancer is not a notifiable disease. Prof. Frank cited a hospital in Mumbai which sees a dozen cases of mesothelioma every year. Studies have shown high rates of asbestosis among workers in the industry, including in those whose exposure to the material has spanned less than 5 years. There has been no real assessment of [asbestos-related disease] to the point that you can get accurate figures.

I submit that since June 2011 Government of India has also agreed at the UN meeting to include white asbestos (chrysotile) in the list of hazardous substances.

I submit that the verdict even by the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Appellate Body (AB) validated the rights of Member States to prohibit the import and use of goods which contain carcinogenic substances such as chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos) is noteworthy. On March 12, 2001 the WTO's Appellate Body (AB) issued its ruling in the case of Canada vs. the European Communities Measures Affecting Asbestos and Asbestos-Containing Products. It noted that safe and controlled use of chrysotile asbestos is impossible.

I submit that India is the largest importer of asbestos, according to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database. Most of it goes into making corrugated roofing sheets as building material.

In our country, it has been estimated by a Canadian jurist that approximately 50, 000 people die every year due to asbestos related cancer. But so far Government of India and state governments has failed to take a pro-people’s health position and a scientific stand on the import of chrysotile asbestos whose mining is technically banned in India. It is a matter of fact that health is a state subject.

In such a context, I appeal to you to take note of:

• Resolutions of WHO and ILO (2005 and 2006 seeking elimination of future use of asbestos including chrysotile asbestos worldwide

• Need to announce the compensation package for present and future victims of asbestos diseases as it has done in the case of Silicosis and make the asbestos companies criminally liable for knowingly exposing citizens and consumers of asbestos products

• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ministry's statement in Rajya Sabha saying: "Studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad, have shown that long-term exposure to any type of asbestos can lead to the development of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma'' on August 18, 2003

• Deliberations of the International Conference on "Emerging Trends in Preventing Occupational Respiratory Diseases and Cancers in Workplace" at Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi in March 2011 following which New Delhi Declaration Seeking Elimination of all forms of Asbestos including Chrysotile from India on 24 March, 2011

• The fact that every international health agency of repute including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the American Cancer Society agree there is no safe level of asbestos exposure. Most recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reconfirmed that all commercial asbestos fibers - including chrysotile, the most commercially used form of asbestos - cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. In addition, IARC newly confirmed that there is sufficient evidence that asbestos causes ovarian cancer and reconfirmed asbestos causes laryngeal cancer

• The World Health Organisation estimates that asbestos already claims 107,000 lives a year. Even that conservative estimate means every five minutes around the clock a person dies of asbestos related disease. The ongoing use of the asbestos fibre kills at least 300 people every day

• World Bank's Asbestos Good Practice Guidelines. These Guidelines, as well as its earlier Environmental, Health & Safety General Guidelines, require that the use of asbestos must be avoided in new construction in projects funded by the World Bank around the world. The Guidelines also provide information on available safer alternatives to asbestos.

I submit that Canadian government which exports chrysotile asbestos to India has removed these carcinogenic fibers from Canadian Parliament and its Prime Minister's Home. It indeed strange that India has technically banned mining of asbestos (including chrysotile) but allows import, manufacture and use of asbestos based products which are proven to be deadly!

Sir, you will agree that human biology is same everywhere if the asbestos is deemed hazardous in the developed countries; it must be deemed so in our country too.

In view of the above, it is your solemn duty to protect the present and future citizens from the exposure of fibers of chrysotile asbestos.

All the groups working on human rights, labour rights, health rights and environmental justice will appreciate if you can intervene urgently in the matter of chrysotile.

I will be happy to share reference documents and more information in this regard.

Thanking You

Yours Faithfully
Gopal Krishna
Convener
ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA)
Mb: 9818089660
Email: krishna1715@gmail.com
Web: toxicswatch.blogspot.com

For a fair, free trade pact with Europe

Several difficult issues need to be resolved if India is not to be short-changed in the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement with the EU.

Since 2007, India and the European Union have been negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement — officially known as Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) — covering trade in goods and services besides rules pertaining to cross-border investments, competition policy, government procurement and state aid.

This legally binding agreement would cover almost a fifth of the world population and, therefore, it impact and implications (both positive and negative) would be significant.

Differences
Despite 14 rounds of formal negotiations, the finalisation of the BTIA has been delayed as differences cropped up between India and the EU over certain issues. Some of the contentious issues holding the BTIA are the EU's demand on India to drastically cut tariffs on automobiles, wines and spirits. The EU is also seeking greater market access in the services sector, particularly banking, retail trade, telecommunications, legal and accounting services.

On the other hand, India is seeking a significant relaxation for the movement of its professionals (for short-term assignments) within the 27-nation bloc. India has also expressed its opposition to the inclusion of sustainable development issues related to labour and environment under the proposed agreement.

Summit tomorrow
Presently, the negotiations have reached a “closing” stage as both trading partners are hoping to finalise the agreement before the India-EU Summit to be held on February 10 in New Delhi.

Given the logjam in talks over certain issues, it is likely that both trading partners may skip negotiations over difficult areas holding the BTIA, and may announce a broad political agreement on the areas acceptable. As bilateral trade and investment agreements are reviewed periodically, it would enable both India and the EU to pursue negotiations over difficult areas once the initial agreement is signed this year. Furthermore, India is unilaterally opening up key sectors of the economy (such as retail trade, banking, pensions, telecommunications) for foreign investments, which would address the key concerns of European investors over market access.

Tariff reduction
India and the EU have agreed to eliminate tariffs on over 90 per cent of all tradeable goods during the next 10-year period. If not carefully managed, a drastic elimination of tariffs on a wide range of agricultural and industrial products could lead to a decline in domestic output, massive job losses, significant tariff revenue loss and negative implications for the trade balance.

The EU is particularly insistent on the reduction of tariffs on wines and spirits, dairy products and cars. The cheaper imports of dairy products from the EU's heavily subsidised and protected dairy sector could result in a significant dislocation of local producers of milk and dairy products in India.

The implications of lowering the tariffs on agricultural and dairy products could have a serious and long-lasting impact as the bulk of our rural population is dependent on them for employment and livelihood. It needs to be emphasised that unlike in Europe, most of the unorganised workers in India are self-employed. There is no social security net to take care of people who may lose their traditional livelihoods and jobs due to a lowering of tariffs under the BTIA.

Opening up banking services
Car manufacturers in India are concerned about the inclusion of finished cars (called Completely Built Units or CBUs), and are strongly opposed to any lowering of customs duty on CBUs under the proposed agreement. There is a strong fear in the domestic automobile industry that lower tariffs will prompt European car manufacturers to import CBUs instead of assembling them in India. This move could also negatively affect future investments in the domestic automobile industry as well as employment generation.

In particular, the EU wants India to open up its banking sector. Some of the key demands emanating from Europe include the removal of all restrictions pertaining to branch licences and foreign ownership (of both public and private banks), besides the removal of priority sector lending on locally incorporated EU-based banks.

If European banks are given greater market access, will they serve 500-million Indians citizens who do not have access to basic banking services?

The European banks are not located in rural areas and are not even serving the poor and low-income groups residing in metropolitan and urban areas. There is no regulatory ban on these banks to serve the urban poor. Therefore, it is not regulatory discrimination or the lack of a market which is hindering the delivery of banking services by European banks but their business model which tends to “cherry-pick” the most profitable businesses in India.

EU's new mandate
Moreover, the global financial crisis has put a big question mark over the efficiency, “best practices” and state-of-the-art risk management models of several big banks. The crisis has shown how many big European banks transmitted financial shocks across countries. In contrast, the Indian banking system has remained insulated from global turmoil thanks to a limited presence of foreign banks, enlarged state ownership of the banking system, and a relatively strong regulatory framework. In a post-crisis world, New Delhi should seriously rethink the benefits of opening up banking and financial services under the India-EU BTIA.

On September 12, 2011, the General Affairs Council of the EU officially approved the negotiating mandate for investment protection measures under the BTIA with India. The mandate is highly problematic as it specifically proposes investor-to-state dispute settlement provisions (in addition to state-to-state). These provisions give special rights to investors to completely bypass the domestic legal system and seek redress before a panel of international arbitrators.

This is especially worrisome since the new mandate calls for “the highest possible level of legal protection and certainty for European investors in India.” At the same time, it does not endorse any qualifications or limitations of investors' right to be protected under the new agreements. Such a lopsided negotiating mandate which puts investors' rights above those of democratically-elected governments should not be accepted by India under the BTIA.

Lack of consultation
It is of grave concern that the India-EU BTIA negotiations have been marked by a gross absence of transparency and public consultation in India.

Before inking an agreement with the EU, it is important for New Delhi to initiate wider consultations with small and medium enterprises, farmers' groups, community based organisations, trade unions and trade experts on an equal footing.

Even State governments have not been informed about the ongoing negotiations even though it would have been only right to take them on board on important issues such as agriculture, public health and education which falls under the State/Concurrent List of the Constitution.

It is a matter of shame that while the proposed agreement will have to be ratified by national Parliaments in all 27-member-states of the EU, there is no system of parliamentary ratification or supervision of such agreements in the world's largest democracy.
Kavaljit Singh
(The author is Director of Madhyam, an independent policy research institute based in New Delhi. Email: kavaljit.singh@gmail.com)

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2872661.ece

http://www.madhyam.org.in/

EU-INDIA FTA: PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS DETAINED DURING PROTEST
17 March 2009 New Delhi EU-INDIA FTA: PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS DETAINED DURING PROTEST New Delhi:

As the 6th round of negotiations related to the EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) got underway here today, the police detained several representatives of public interest groups during a peaceful protest in front of the office of the European Commission (EC). Trade bureaucrats from the EC and Indian Commerce Ministry will deliberate on issues ranging from services, manufacturing, trade facilitation and government procurement till 19 March. Public interest groups were demonstrating against the secretive nature of negotiations on the FTA, which includes contentious issues such as agriculture, investment, fisheries, intellectual property and government procurement. Since the trade talks between the European Union and India were launched in Brussels in 2007, there has been no access to negotiating texts.

Pradip Dutta of the Delhi Network of Positive People asserted, This FTA has provisions that will undermine access to treatment, not just in India but across the developing world. Duttas concerns are not unfounded. India is well recognised as the leading supplier of generic medicines across the developing world. Recent seizures at EU ports of such generic drug consignments are ample evidence of the adverse impacts of stringent provisions on intellectual property rights that are also likely to feature in the EU-India FTA.

Several other colleagues living with HIV joined Dutta at the protest. In response to the protest, the EU Ambassador Daniele Smadja met with three representatives from the Forum on FTAs, a platform of peoples organisations that organized the protest. Dharmendra Kumar of India FDI Watch who met with the Ambassador said, We were disappointed but not surprised by the Ambassadors statement that all negotiating texts are secret and will not be made available even to EU Parliamentarians. With a minimum of 90% tariff coverage, there will be little leeway for the Government of India to protect Indian agriculture.

Speaking to the press, Yudhvir Singh from the Bharatiya Kisan Union stated It is shocking that EU subsidies are kept out of the negotiations and this will allow agribusiness in EU to dump subsidized products such as dairy into the country. The Forum has submitted a memorandum to Minister Kamal Nath calling for a halt to the talks and has asked for a meeting with the Indian delegation. As the FTA negotiations gather speed, concern is spreading across the country.

The Forum on FTAs has written to political parties across the spectrum to address this issue in their manifestos. This demand has been met positively showing growing skepticism with the FTA agenda. People who were part of the protest include representatives from hawkers associations, networks of positive people and health, agriculture and labour groups.

EU India FTA Briefing Part 1 of 8

EU India FTA Briefing Part 2 of 8

EU India FTA Briefing Part 3 of 8

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EU_India_FTA_Briefing_Part 5 of 8

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EU India FTA Briefing Part7 of 8

EU_India_FTA_Briefing_Part 8 of 8

Garbage pickers livelihoods threatened by power plants in India

In India, thousands of poor garbage pickers are having their livelihoods threatened by plans to build three rubbish-fuelled power plants in the capital.

Presenter: Murali Krishnan
Speakers: Ramakant Khushwaha, rag picker; Debendra Kumar Baral, president of the children's ragpickers society; Gopal Krishna, Toxics Watch Alliance; Sadme Alam, activist

Listen:

KRISHNAN: For the last six years, 50-year-old Pratap Kumar is up at the crack of dawn heading for houses and restaurants to collect recyclable items. He sifts through garbage with his son and earns barely enough to keep his family of six afloat.

At another end of the city, along the banks of river Yamuna, 43-year-old Ramakant Khushwaha rummages through filthy garbage at a landfill while keeping at bay stray dogs. He suffers from scabies after working over 20 years in this job. Life has become tough for him in the past two years since the garbage collection of colonies was given to contractors.

Now, the city authorities of New Delhi have approved the construction of three garbage incinerators in a plan to get private firms to collect and dispose of garbage. However, the plans pose a direct threat to the informal recycling sector and threaten Khuswaha's livelihood and thousands like him.

KHUSHWAHA: If the government goes ahead with these plants and constructs them, 200, 000 rag pickers will be out of jobs. This is the only job we know and this is what keeps our home fires burning.

Ragpickers have stepped up their campaign to prevent private companies from taking over garbage collection under the waste-to-energy project.

Debendra Kumar Baral, the president of the children's ragpickers society says the government's plans will face opposition.

BARAL: There are thousands in the city whose lives depend on picking up garbage. In this business of garbage, the government wants to bring in private companies and provide the infrastructure. But I don't think it will be successful.

The capital is well known for being the largest producer of municipal solid waste in India, generating almost 8,000 tonnes on a daily basis. As much as 15-20 percent of the garbage is recyclable.

Gopal Krishna of Toxics Watch Alliance, an environmental NGO maintains that rag pickers have played a very important role.

KRISHNA: Rag pickers have been contributing in a very sustainable way to the economy by segregating the recyclable material.. other sections are involved in composting. So they were doing an eco-friendly job for the city. But now that the garbage is being destroyed by burning it, more than 300,000 rag pickers will be jobless. On the part of the government, there is nothing to ensure they will get alternate livelihoods.

Critics of the scheme say that far being a progressive measure, incineration of garbage is frowned on internationally. Plants such as these are highly polluting.

Mr Krishna explains:

KRISHNA: This is being done in the name of carbon trade. All the three incinerators.. they are highly polluting and coming up in residential colonies. Waste pickers were doing something which was so good for the environment. Now, a project is being proposed which will destroy the environment and destroy the health of people. And it will emit such toxins which are actually peace time use of war-time chemicals like dioxins.

Sadme Alam, an activist, says the rag pickers will resist the new moves.

ALAM: They are going to fight. They will organise themselves and they will try to influence the government because they have to understand... otherwise if we are concerned with the environment, then why are we doing this?

There are approximately 1.5 million waste pickers in India who are at the lowest rung of the occupational ladder and often the most marginalised.

What will happen to them should the government move ahead with its plans is unknown as they often have no other alternatives for employment.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/201201/s3414033.htm

Press Statement

TWA welcomes Italian criminal court’s verdict against asbestos company

Upcoming Union Budget should provide for phase out of asbestos products in India

Make Indira Awas Yojna, asbestos free

New Delhi 18/2/2012: ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) welcomes the guilty verdict of a court in Turin, Italy that provides legal remedy for a public health and environmental disaster that claimed thousands of lives due to the criminal callousness of asbestos company and calls on Union Finance Minister to provide a road map for the phase out of asbestos products in the upcoming Budget Session of the Indian Parliament. The 3-judge panel sentenced the owners of asbestos company, the defendants to 16 years in jail on February 13, 2012.

It is noteworthy that the birth place of Chairperson of Indian National Congress led United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi is in the Turin province. Italy banned asbestos in 1992 still its effect is being felt as a consequence of past exposures. While Italy has banned asbestos, manufacturing of asbestos products is rising at alarming rate in India in general and in Rae Bareli, her parliamentary constituency in particular.

Italian Health Minister Renato Balduzzi has applauded the verdict by the Turin court as "without exaggeration, truly historic". The silence of India’s Union Health Minister in the matter of public health crisis due to asbestos exposure is deafening. The Turin court ordered asbestos company, Eternit’s owners to pay a total of €95 million in compensation to the families of the victims, to the town of Casale, trade unions and other parties. Damages are also to be determined in a separate civil proceeding to victims’ relatives and to a number of local authorities. TWA hopes Indian Parliament will equip the legal system so that they can provide remedies to present and future victims of asbestos fibers.

This verdict came in the criminal trial of 64 years old Swiss Stephan Schmidheiny and 89 year old lead Belgian shareholder Louis de Cartier who owned and managed a company called Eternit that made asbestos-cement building products in many countries in Europe, South America, and South Africa. Eternit closed its operations in Italy in 1986.

The verdict was read out by Judge Giuseppe Casalbore after 66 hearings. Schmidheiny and Cartier were accused of causing “permanent health and environmental catastrophe” at their asbestos based plants. The victims were exposed to asbestos fibers.

TWA appreciates the conviction of these two billionaires and considers it a milestone in the battle to eradicate asbestos fibers that is still used in the construction industry in most of the Asian countries despite ban in 55 countries world over. This is the biggest ever trial on asbestos related deaths and the first involving criminal charges brought against asbestos company’s owners. Similar fate awaits the owners of asbestos companies in India which exercise an incestuous influence over ruling political parties and exacting fiscal incentives from Union Finance Ministry at least since 1982.

The trial has been going on since 2009. Schmidheiny has a net worth of about $3 billion and has reportedly spent over $10 million a year on lawyers and public relations representatives in this case. This proves that no amount of expenditure on public relations and advertisements can hide the truth about asbestos related incurable diseases such as Asbestosis, Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma.

It has come to light that in the northern town of Casale Monferrato, where the largest of Eternit’s four plants were located since 1907, 1,800 people have died of asbestos-related diseases, including some 800 who never even worked for the asbestos company. Every week in the small town of 35,000, doctors discover a new case of pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. The company never handled disposal of asbestos waste (dust and fibers) in environmentally sound manner and gifted it to workers families.
In India, although trade in asbestos waste (dust and fibers) is banned under the Hazardous Waste Management Rules, there no capacity in the private or public sector to handle end of life asbestos products in an environmentally sound manner. One can witness countless locations even in the national capital where asbestos waste is strewn around in the streets, at the Railways Stations, Metros, hospitals and schools.

In such a backdrop, Commerce Ministry should desist from signing the "Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" with Canada that allows import of Canadian asbestos to India. Incidentally, work is on to decontaminate the offices and homes of members of the Canadian House of Commons which have asbestos. The government has stated publicly that it does not favour new asbestos plants in the country any more. "The Government of India is considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in India to protect workers and the general population against primary and secondary exposure," a concept paper by the Ministry of Labour said in September 2011.
Union Environment Ministry s Vision Statement on Environment and Human Health says, "Alternatives to asbestos may be used to the extent possible and use of asbestos may be phased out." Union Ministry of Chemicals urged the government to disassociate itself from countries like Russia and Canada who derailed the international consensus that could have categorised chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance. If the Finance Minister takes cognizance of the global and national developments, the Union Budget may see the beginning of the end of the asbestos manufacturing industry in India given the fact that it’s mining is already banned by Union Mines Ministry.

It high time Union Rural Development Minister took cognizance of it and made its Indira Awas Yojna, asbestos free. Inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause serious illnesses including malignant lung cancer or mesothelioma and asbestosis, a chronic lung disease. The year 2011 will be remembered for a successful villagers' struggle against an asbestos plant in Chainpur-Bishunpur in Marwan block of Muzaffarpur district, Bihar that led to its closure. Bihar State Human Rights Commission has announced the winding up of the killer plant. Several such plants are facing resistance in Bihar and across the country. Kerala Human Rights Commission had banned the use of asbestos roofs in schools and hospitals in me state and the National Human Rights Commission had issued notices to central ministries, states and union territories seeking a report on asbestos related incurable diseases and on why asbestos should not be banned.

It is a bizarre and inexplicable economic logic to allow Russia and Canada and other asbestos producers to endanger the health of present and future generation of Indian citizens even as the developed world saves its citizens from the killer fibers of asbestos.

For Details: Gopal Krishna, Convener, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 09818089660, Web: banasbestosindia.blogspot.com, E-mail: krishna1715@gmail.com
More information on the Eternit trial from the Italian Asbestos Victims Families Casale (in English) here: http://asbestosinthedock.ning.com/

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has launched an online inventory giving hazard information on more than 100,000 substances as per a news report dated February 13, 2012. The information was collected under the classification, labelling and packaging (CLP) regulation. The CLP inventory includes 3 million individual notifications from manufacturers and importers on the hazard classifications of the substances they make or import. ECHA warns some companies have classified the same substances differently and that it has not checked the quality of the information available.

The chemicals agency hopes that the CLP inventory will enable companies to arrive at a single classification for each substance. It is going to launch a web platform to help them contact each other and harmonise their positions.

If one looks for Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (methyl t-butyl ether, MTBE) which is volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that is immiscible with water in the inventory, it provides reason to doubt its trustworthiness. It has a minty odor. It has unpleasant taste and odor in water. MTBE is an organic compound and a gasoline additive. MTBE is controversial in USA because it is a potential human carcinogen at high doses as per United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Safe alternatives of MTBE are available as additives for gasoline such as ethanol.

MTBE is banned in the US states of California and New York. MTBE consumption, banned the chemical starting January 1, 2004, and as of September 2005, 25 states had signed legislation banning MTBE. The lack of MTBE liability protection is resulting in a switchover to the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive.

Experts opine that there are dozens of studies since 1970s that document acute and long-term toxicity, and there are long-term studies that show substantial harm, the new database provides minimal information. There are at least 10 studies showing that it is mutagenic, 5 studies state that it is carcinogenic, and this chemical metabolizes to formaldehyde in people and animals. There is substantial evidence that it is toxic, but none of this is reflected in the entry for MTBE in the ECHA inventory.

Note:The deafening silence of Delhi Chief Minister in the face of blatant violation of environmental laws which were pointed out by the Union Environment Minister has revealed that she is least concerned about the plight of the residents of Okhla. From the hearings in the Delhi High Court that has been going on since 2009, it is quite clear that Delhi Government and its environment department and Pollution Control Board is biased in favour of Jindal Ecopolis, an affiliate of M/s Jindal Urban Infrastructure Limited (JUIL), a company of M/s Jindal Saw Group Limited owned by Prithviraj Jindal.

In a classic case of impudent sophistry, company sources are anonymously saying that "The smoke that is being seen from the chimney is essentially steam." Ask any student in Okhla, they will demolish such callous verbal gibberish, for sure, it is a universal fact that when waste is burnt it is smoke that is emitted and not steam. The lethargy with which Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has performed in this case of explicit violation which its Chairman, Prof. S P Gautam himself witnessed is quite a sad commentary on the its state of affairs. Few years back Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forests had inferred that its almost a defunct institution. One didn't know it hasn't improved a bit since then.

Gopal Krishna
ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA)

Okhla waste plant to come under green scan

NEW DELHI: For the next three months, the Delhi environment department and Delhi Pollution Control Board (DPCC) will intensively monitor operation of the Okhla waste-to-energy plant.

Reacting to a TOI report about possible emissions from the plant since it became functional on January 3, the environment secretary visited the area on January 7 and said that while everything seemed to be in order at present, the government would keep a close watch on the plant as work is gradually scaled up in the next few months.

Jindal Ecopolis, the project manager, received a 'consent to operate' from DPCC in December 2011. "So far, everything seems to be alright and emissions are well within the prescribed limit; but we will try and have information pertaining to emissions made available online so that apprehensions of residents and other parties can be quelled," said Keshav Chandra, environment secretary.

"A very small amount of waste is being incinerated right now. The smoke that is being seen from the chimney is essentially steam. However, one cannot be sure whether emissions would stay under the prescribed norms once the full capacity of the plant is utilized. For three months, there should be intensive monitoring after which a protocol will be prepared for further monitoring," said a source.

A senior government official said it has also been proposed to ask Jindal to make incineration temperature available online. "Studies have shown that a temperature of 850 degrees Celsius or above is sufficient to ensure that incineration is safe. If that data is available online every 15 minutes or so, it would become easier to ensure that operations are normal. The matter will be taken up with the management soon," said a source.

The government's interest in the project stems largely from the massive protests that have greeted the plant. While not batting outrightly for the project, the government is cautiously promoting the need for the technology as "Delhi is battling with a problem of waste disposal and if this plant is also shut, no other solution is likely in the immediate future". Central Pollution Control Board is also carrying out a study to ensure that the technology being used is safe and viable. A report is expected to be submitted by them shortly.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-10/delhi/30611130_1_jindal-ecopolis-incineration-plant

Presentation on "Delhi-Mumbai Corridor:Unsustainable Urban Development" by Romi Khosla and Vikram Soni

DATE:Saturday, 11 February 2012
TIME:03.00 pm
PLACE: Muktadhara, 18-19 Bhai Veer Singh Marg, Gole Market, New Delhi 110001

Delhi mayor claimed he knew nothing about the project - has never visited the site of the plant being built by Jindal Ecopolis. The plant is functioning since 1st January 2012 amidst residents bitter protest and outrage. Its not about Sukhdev Vihar or Okhla alone whole of Delhi is turning into a gas chamber from several corners. These plants will contribute to the capital city becoming a ghost city.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwZP89UjD_g