... has been the motto of an erring plant in Karnataka. But recently, the local fisherfolk scored a victory by forcing it to agree to install an effluent treatment plant
By book or by crook..
IN THE early hours of December 21,
1995, a group of fisherfolk assembled in
thousands and staged a rasta roko (road
block) on the National Highway No 17
at Byukampadi and Kulai, about eight
km from Mangalore. They were protesting against the laying of a pipeline by the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals
Limited (MRPL), and accused the
company of discharging harmful
effluents into the sea.
The Hindustan Petroleum Limited,
with an investment of Rs 7,500 crores,
collaborating with the Birlas, has
formed the MRPL among 13 other such
refineries in the country.
Located at a distance of 20 kin from
Mangalore and about four km from the
eastern coast, the MRPL is spread on a
plot of 498.15 ha. Nearly Rs 3,000-crore
worth investment has gone into the
stage one of the project to refine
three million tonnes per annum. The
company imports crude oil from the
Middle East and refines it to produce
petroleum products.
The company is planning to become
operational shortly. The project implementation, which commenced in 1993,
is at an advanced stage. When the project authorities started laying pipelines
passing through residential colonies for
discharging effluents into the sea, the
fisherfolk came to know about the project and began protesting (Down To Earth, Vol 4, No 13). They assembled
under the leadership of the Mogaveera
Mahajana Sabha and local environmental groups like the Parisara
Sarnrakshna Samiti.
Because of such changes the world
over, today there are many fisheries
angling for rich harvests in the Arabian
Sea. Although there are regulations for
fishing within set boundaries for nation
states, poaching has been a consistent
threat to the traditional fish
erfolk of the Mangalore coast.
Moreover, fishing companies that can afford to employ
bigger boats and gear, including driftnets to strain portions
of the sea, leave lesser catch
for the local fisherpeople. The
size of their nets, the number
of their hooks, the girth of
their boats and the miniaturised electronic equipments
allow these mega-fishers to
travel hundreds of kilometers
into the sea and haul rich
catches.
Further, trawlers have also
been posing a big challenge to
the traditional fisherpeople
who have been using country
boats only. The trawlers drag
a large sock-like net though
the water, enabling huge quantities of
fish catch. The trawlers, with nets and
weighed down by chains, dig into the
sea bed and kill sea urchins, starfish,
worms, crustaceans and shell fish, thereby severely damaging the eco-system.
On account of new economic policies persued by the Indian government,
multinational companies that have
exhausted the Pacific coast catch, have
now set their eyes on the Arabian Sea.
Marine farming of upto 120-2,000
tonnes is being carried out with the help
of highly sophisticated trawlers.
Apart from fishing, the equipment
for storing and packing, which is also available on the board, facilitates export to the international markets unhindered. Nearly 175 such companies have been given license for deep sea fishing
inside the Indian waters. While all this
has already created anxiety in the minds
of the fisherpeople, effluents discharged
by the MRPL have spurred animosity
among them.
Sociologists who have been working
on the Peruvian coast and in other Latin
American countries, have always cautioned that export-oriented fishing has
severe implications for low-income
people and subsistence cultures who
rely on fish as their staple diet.
Consumers linked to commercial markets primarily eat fish as a luxury item
or as a supplement to an already balanced diet, as has been seen in the
industrial world where fish is generally
exported. When governments subvert
traditional and local control of fishing
grounds, sever ecological as well as
social consequences can ensue.
The Dakshina Kananda district in
Karnataka is considered an ecologically
sensitive area among 34 such places
identified in the world. Ironically, the
Karnataka government has adopted
every possible move to transform the
district into an 'industrial zone'. Nearly
34 mega industries including the MRPL, Congentrix,
Nagarjuna Cements and
various other highly
polluting industries are all
set to be installed.
Proximity of the sea to the
district is often cited as the
main reason for the industries' location. But till
now, the Mangalore
Chemical Industries and
the Kudremukh iron ore
project are already suspected to have together
discharged untreated
effluents to the effect of 6,819,000 litre
into the sea.
Along with the sewage from
Mangalore, effluents from other small
industries have placed the district under
great ecological pressure. To add to this
misery, the MRPL would release mercury,
cyanide, sulphide, cadmium, nickel and
tonnes of grease in the sea affecting
considerably the fish catch by the local
fisherpeople.
The Karnataka State Pollution
Control Board had given a clean chit to
the project on the aspect of water and
air pollution. But the National Institute
for Oceanography (NIO) figures of
analyses did not correspond with the
survey conducted by the state or the
Centre, or for that matter, by the MRPL.
Where the NIO found that there was
0.01 mg mercury and two mg cadmium
in the effluents discharged, the government as well as the MRPL have reportedly dismissed the very existence of heavy
metals in effluents. NIO has directed the
effluents to be discharged only after they
are duly treated.
Coastal areas being key marine fisheries, where more than 90 per cent Of the catch comes from 10 per cent of the
sea closest to the land, the apprehensions of the fisherfolk are justified. Four
lakh fisherfolk literally found themselves at sea.
The resultant pollution from the
discharges reduced the supply of fish
not just by killing them outright, but
also by rendering them toxic, which is
harmful to human life! Mercury, cadmium, and copper can cause a whole range
of physical problems from vomiting and
diarrhea to damage to the central nervous system and the brain. Sewage and
other sources of effluents have also rendered seafood unfit for consumption.
All these reasons led thousands of fisherfolk in
Dakshina Kannada to
lodge angry protests
against the MRPL. When
the pipeline laying work
in the fisherfolk's colony
in Chittapur Road was
taken up on September
18, 1995, the agitation
against the MRPL began
anew, bringing the
construction work to a standstill.
The company had agreed to re-use
the effluent for horticultural and agricultural purposes. However, it said that
for three months during the monsoon,
the effluents would be discharged. The
fisherfolk demanded that the effluents
should be treated and re-used throughout the year, by storing the treated effluent in a tank during monsoon and use
them in summer instead of letting them
out into the sea.
The fisherfolk's agitation reached a
crescendo between December 21-24.
The government's stand since the
beginning has been skewed in favour of
the company. The Karnataka large and
medium industries minister R V
Delispande stated that "whatever happens, pipeline work cannot be stopped".
Till now, Rs 3,000 crores have been
invested and the pipeline is in the final
stages of completion. Therefore, the
government feels that providing a treatment plant at this stage may not be feasible. The authorities feel that this might
even adversely effect the inflow of
investment into Karnataka.
For the last several months, various
NGos have been initiating action against
the possible ecological disaster that may
be caused by effluents discharged in
Dakshina Kannada. In August 1995,
nearly one lakh people participated in a
massive rally to express their opposition
to the MRPL'S whims.
Finally on December 24, the
Karnataka government invited the concerned representatives for a dialogue on the MRPL. Among several others, the
meeting was attended by MPs, MLAs, state
government officials and fisherpeople's
group. The resultant breakthrough was
a government order (GO) whereby the
MRPL has been directed to "install suitable equipment and facilities for the
recycling of waste and removal/disposal
of sludge, if any; and maximum extent
of recycling will be achieved to conserve
water and at the same time (to) minimise discharge of, effluents into the
sea". It is estimated that the plant will
cost Rs 200 crores.
Although this is an important victory
for the struggling fisherfolk of the
Dakshina Kannada district, certain
other aspects of the GO make one suspect the possibilities of the MRPL complying with the state government. The
MRPL authorities in fact, has asked for
two years as grace period to install the
effluent treatment plant pleading lack of
financial resources.
But till proper recycling facilities are
installed, chances are very high that
effluents would definitely be pumped
into the sea. As there has been no guarantee from the plant authorities or the
state government to ward off the worst
fears of the fishing communities, the
final outcome of the struggle undertaken by the fisherpeople of Karnataka
still hangs in balance.
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