FAST track power projects ha
of late, become stages I
macting'the theatrics of en
ronment politics in India.
was first evident this July, wh
the Bharatiya Janata Pa
(sip)-Shiv Sena government
Maharashtra cancelled the
t*s-based 2,015 mw Enron
project proposed at
Dabhol in Ratnagiri district. The target immediately after the Dabhol pro-
Oct has been the 1,000 mw
thermal power station
proposed for Karnataka's
Dakshina Kannada district, by an international cc
sortium led by another t
based firm - the Cogent
Energy Incorporated. Its pi
posed location has led the E
and other political grou
campaigning against the pla.
to espouse the environmen
cause with extra shrillness.
The proposed site of the
Cogentrix plant is 'at Nandikur
viHage in Udupi taluka of Dakshina
Kannada, 30 km north from the portcav of Mangalor 'e, and three krn inland
kom the Arabian Sea shoreline, acclaiseed for its magnificent biodiversity.
In comparison to the dwindling
evergreen forest cover of Kerala, Goa
4nd Maharashtra, the natural wealth
of Dakshina Kannada is still pristine.
The rich vegetation is home to some
ad the most endangered fauna and
16ra typical to Indian rainforests.
V"pite the establishment of four tracts
of reserved forests by the state, fuel,
$Wder and food is hardly a problem for
district's rural population.
So, concerns among various poligroups that a large, polluting powermay cause irretrievable damage to
the environment is a recognition of the
wide degree of awareness among the
region's inhabitants. One of India's
reknowned environmental campaigns
of the '80s - Save Western Ghats
Movement - had its hub in this district. A successor to the movement survives in the form of the local environment network - the Dakshina Kannada
Parisarasaktha Okkuta (Dakshina
Kannada Environmental Federation).
Through its constituent Parisara
Jagaran Samitis (Environmental
Awareness Committees), active in each
of the eight talukas of the district, the
Okkuta has recruited a committed band
of 3,500-4,000 activists. "We in
Dakshina Kannada are concerned about
our environment," says M Veerappa
Moily, the Karkala assembly
constituency representative,
during whose tenure as
Karnataka's chief minister, the
mou between the state government and Cogentrix Inc was
actually signed.
A few more factors contribute to make the affairs of
Dakshina Kannada - environmental or other - recipients of keen attention by statelevel politics. The district has
been selected by successive
state governments to be a key
link in' the integration of
Karnataka into national and
international sectors of economic growth.
Mangalore - India's ninth
largest port - handles mineral
exports by the Kudremukh
Iron Ore Company. India's
most ambitious railway expan
sion scheme, the Konkan
Railway Project, anticipated to
introduce an economic revolution on the west coast, starts in
Bombay and culminates in
Mangalore. The state government also plans to build an ultramodern international airport in the
district, principally for traffic with West
Asia, Africa and Europe.
Successive Karnataka state governments, like their counterparts elsewhere
in India, have eagerly sought the entry
of mega-industrial projects. Their
achievements for Dakshina Kannada
have been particularly impressive. Since
1990, the overall value of industrial
investment cleared for Dakshina
Kannada amounts to Rs 12,800 crore.
Of this, over Rs 10,500 crore are
accounted by just seven mega projects.
Sources at the Karnataka Industrial
Development Corporation reveal that
an amount of Rs 24,800 crore is envisaged by this century's end. The bulk of
this would come from 30-40 large
technology investment projects.
But even sections of the state and the
Union government are apprehensive
about the impact of such massive industrialisation on Dakshina Kannada's
ecology and environment. In 1989, the
Union government requested the government of Denmark to assist the
Karnataka state authorities in preparing
an Environment Master Plan (EMP) for
Dakshina Kannada. Says the project
coordinator, Fleming Mouritsen, "The
district was selected because it was
anticipated to witness dramatic rates of
industrial and urban growth during the
'90s and there were concerns about the
long-term impact on the region's natural resources and ecological systems."
Team members and experts of the
Danish International Development Aid
(DANIDA) study aspire to provide an
Emp which would become a model
for every district in the country. The
DANIDA report warns that the proposed
power project near Mangalore may
cause acid rain.
A N Yellappa Reddy, secretary for
ecology and forests in the Karnataka
government, has become a thorn in the
eye of the state government for opposing every mega-industry that has been
cleared for Dakshina Kannada. Reddy is
convinced that "the advent of Cogentris:
will mean the death of Dakshina
Kannada". His charges range from
observations that, while the
Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)
has presumed pollution standards
applicable for industrial zones, much
more stringent stipulations for ecologically sensitive zones should have been
used as a point of reference. Based on
the conclusions of an EIA report for an
earlier proposed power project at
Nandikur, he argues that Cogentrix
authorities have deliberately underestimated the extent of flyash discharge and
disposal problems.
But the state environment minister,
H D Siddangoudar is avowedly in
favour of Dakshina Kannada's industrialisation. The chairperson of the
Karnataka State Pollution Control
Board, S V Bengery, also disagrees with
nearly all of Yellappa Reddy's objections.
Since the late '70s, Karnataka has
exuded the impression of growing into a
modern Indian state, with high techno-
logy industrial and services sector. Large
cities and small towns have deliberately
Demand-supply gap for power in Karnataka
tried to foster encrgy-intensive metropolitan fifestyles in keeping with thisdrive.
Rs 20 billion have been spent on
Karnataka's power sector during the
Eighth Five Year Plan period (1990-95).
Yet, this investment is totally inadequate for the roughly three lakh fresh
connections installed every year which
by themselves constitute a demand of
600-650 mw. Says chief minister H Deve
Gowda, "For the sake of the state's
prosoperity I am committed to any
power project as long as it comes on
schedule."
There is also widespread conviction
that the shortfall can be tackled only
through dedicated power generation
facilities within Karnataka itself.
Karnataka already imports about 600700 mw of power, and overall projections suggest that it would be able to
obtain not more than 220 mw over a
above this even by AD 2005. Its shar4
generation from existing Central gc
ernment facilities is also very sma1N
19 per cent from the 2,100
Ramagundan project, 13 per cent fr4
the 1,050 mw Neyvely Thermal Static
and 6 per cent from the 470 MW Mall
Atomic Power Station. "Through mu
higher private as well as public invi
ments, we hope to be able to mat
demands by AD 2005," says I H Patel,
state power minister.
Sucessive chief ministers belongi
to the Congress party, S Bangarappa a
Veerappa Moily, negotiated the im I
deal with Cogentrix. Moily has begun
acknowledge that "perhaps certain el
ronmental aspects of the deal were n
thrashed out. These must be resol
for once and all.'
But there should be no subsequent
opposition to the project, he argues.
However, the state unit of his party feels
that the matter should be settled by centrally appointed experts. The response
of the Karnataka Rajya Raiyat Sangh,
which has for long proclaimed its identification apparently with grassroot
environmental concerns, is almost
equally mundane.
In comparison, the Bip does seem to
have been successful in reflecting the
environmental concerns in opposing
the Cogentrix project. Says senior BJP
leader, B S Yediyurappa, who is also
leader of the opposition in the
Karnataka assembly, "Our hostility to
the Cogentrix project was principally on
the financial count. Of late we have discovered that there are grave environmental consequences as well."
The us multinational company has
drawn an extremely costly
construction plan worth
Rs 4,080 crore, and will
receive an interest of 16
per cent on this investment before the plant is
commissioned. It will sell
power to the Karnataka
Electricity Board at the
point of generation at Rs
2.49 per kilo watt hour
(kwhr), to be sold to the
consumer at around Rs
4.50 per kwhr. Current
rates are nearly 40 per
cent less - at Rs 2.80 per
kwhr. Not only will
Cogentrix receive a hefty bonus for any
generation beyond 85 per cent efficiency
(in terms of the total capacity), but will
get the entire deal undetwritten in the
form ofcounter-guarantees by the Centre.
In September, BJP legislators from
Mangalore decided to press for a special
session on the potential environmental
hazards of Cogentrix. To get over the
perceived information gap, the Bip has
planned a series of public meetings late
into November. Party functionaries
claim that they would present experts
from institutions like the Indian
Institute of Science, the National
Institute of Oceanography and several
enginneering institutions to speak on
key issues like energy planning, fuel
options and pollution control.
After the BJP, the Communist Party
of India, (Marxist), (cpm) has vociferously opposed the Cogentrix project. It
has only one sitting MLA, G Srirama
Reddy, representing the Balegady constituency in Kolar district. The cpm's
real strength in the state comes through
its labour Organisation - the Centre of
Indian Trade Unions (CITU). A document prepared by CITU workers of
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd in New
Delhi, which compares the Cogentrix
project's cost with that Of BHEL, is the
keynote of the CPM/CITU campaign. The
document asserts that BHEL would have
been almost 48 per cent cheaper ("Rs
3.13 crore per mw as against Rs 5 per
mw"), and the electricity supplied at 60
per cent of the Cogentrix rate ( Rs 1.65
per kwhr as agaisnt Rs 2.65 per kwhr).
But Reddy, along with the state CITU
president, P Suryanarayana Rao, also
believes that Karnataka's power crisis,is
largely the handiwork of environmen-
talists. "Kaiga, Sharavathi, Bedti,
Vaahi," he says heavily,
11 each was a sorely needed
power project which got
crippled by environmental protests. Otherwise, we
would have been much
better off." Ironically, the
bulk Of CITU'S membership and following comprises workers in traditional industries like beedi
rolling and coffee, cashew
and rubber processing -
each dependent on a natural resource likely to get
effected by any adverse
change in the district's
ecology. "We believe in looking to science for solutions," says B Madhava, the
local cpm spokesperson.
The ruling Janata Dal opines that
environmental considerations would
not be an insurmountable opposition to
Cogentrix. Within the state cabinet,
many are cocksure that the project
would sail off smoothly. "Environmen-
talists or the BJP in Dakshina Kannada...
these are mino7r problems. You can discount them totally," Siddangoudar told
Down To Earth.
But since August, there has been a
mass protest in Dakshina Kannada.
Instead of Cogentrix, its immediate target is the Rs 2,090 crore Mangalore
Refineries and Petrochemicals (MRPL)
complex in Kulai village, 20 km from
Mangalore, built to produce 3,000
tonnes of petro-products annually.
Production starts in February 1996, as
the first new mega-project in Dakshina
Kannada is hailed by the state as a certificate of its pro-industry policies.
On September 18, the Meenugara
Parisara Samrakshana Samithi
(Fishermen's Environment Protection
Committee), an offshoot of a broader
multi-faceted Moghaveera Sangha
Industrious effort
A veritable boom in industries proposed
Dakshina Kannada may boomerang
(Fisherfolk Community), communicat-
ed with chief minister Deve Gowda and
industries minister R V Deshpande, that
they would observe a "direct action day"
on the September 23 by dismantling the
pipeline still under construction. The
Meenugara Samithi has the unflinching
support of nearly two lakh fishermen in
the district.
After hectic negotiations throughout the night of September 22, the district administration impressed upon
MRPL authorities to remove a kilometre
long stretch of the pipeline.
A Central Marine Fishery Research
Institute (CMFRI) study in 1993 had estimated that the district provides nearly
70 per cent of the marine fish production in Karnataka, although the trend is
nosediving.
The Meenugara Samithi maintains
that the real reason behind this decline
is the dumping of untreated effluents by
industrial units into the Netravathi and
other rivers. This has supposedly
destroyed several fish feeding and
breeding grounds. Such events have
united the Meenugara, Parisara Samithi
and the Okkuta.
These organisations have attracted
the attention of other civic movements
like the Balakedarara Vedike (the
Consumer's Forum) against polluting
industries. This is also attracting the
attention of academics, doctors and
lawyers. The Vedike secretary, Ravindranath Shanbagh, said, "Basically, it is
a transmission of the principles formulated aslocal people have right to use the
environment as they wish to; they also
have a right to be informed about the
hazards they are being exposed to."
The key themes of the Dakshina
Kannada movement have been reiterated by ecologists and environmentalists
of the Indian Institute of Science, and
researchers from the University of
Bangalore. Babu Matthew, professor,
Natitmal Law College in Bangalore, a
civil rights activist and president of the
power trade union at BHEL, said, "The
Dakshina Kannada movement has
become a unique non-party political
platform."
The Cogentrix plant would daily use
5,200-S,300 torme of imported coal.
According to the power purchase agreement being worked out between the
state government and Cogentrix, a
ready stock for 45 days of operations
would always be in reserve. The storage
and transport of such huge quantities of
coal would certainly cause ground or air
pollution. The power station will also
generate 685 tonne of fly ash, capable of
contaminating large stretches of land or
even percolate down to the water table,
eventually polluting streams and estuaries. Seventy to 80 tonne of sulphur dioxide released in the atmosphere may also
Since '90, fish catches in Dakshina Kannada
cause acid rain in the Ghats.
However, the protestors are more
preoccupied about the problem of
water. The overall water demand of
Cogentrix is 8 million cu rn a day. The
Karnataka government has offered to
sell 77 million cu rn daily from a barrage
at the Mulki river at concessional rates.
"But the Mulki is a seasonal river
and the barrage will end up becoming
the personal property of the power
company," says Sommath Naik, of the
Okutta. White this has provoked the
fisherpeople even more, the fact that
ssater from the proposed desatination
plant would be discharged into the sea
at a relatively higher temperature, has
raised serious objections.
Ironically, the agitationists have a
grudging respect for the Cogentrix:
managing director, Ron Somers'publicity campaign. Since April, he has cultivated a constituency within Dakshina
Kannada to whom the idea of a modern
power plant as well as other induste
sounds attractive. The exercise has cot.
eTed the Kanara Chambers 49
Commerce, the Mangalore Enginects
Association, the Manipal InstituteO
Technology, the T A Pai Managernew
Institute and all district Rotary Clubs.
Cogentrix has assured that its firm
construction activity will be a rehab iuld
tion colony with permanent electrici;.
supply. The company will ensure p
fessional re-training of all of those I
may have to change vocations dued
displjccment.
Somers asserts that the environmental safeguards applicable tv
Cogentrix will comprise techrm,191
designed toy standards from the Unall
States Environment Protection Ageni
which are far stringent than their Ind.11
counterparts. The Karnataka St
Pollution Control Board stipulates III
suspended particulate matter emall
should be at 150 micrograms ' -
Somers promises that the Cogent
facility will emit only a third - at
micrograms per co m. The pro) Iec
emission stack will have the mov I
ern flue gas desulphuration unit wo
Rs 300 crores to scrub out all sulph
dioxide elements. Simultaneous
imported coal whose calorifi
nearly double that of the Indian van
and ash content is less than half,
produce much lesser flyash. Besida
Cogentrix documents also assi
should flyash seepage occur from
storage pond, "provisions wilt be male
to correct liner deficiencies". But mu
sores to handle ground water contan
nation, which would be an imminent
outcome, are not discussed.
Somers has prepared a list of Indian
public sector power projects already
cleared by the Central Electricity
Authority in the last two years which
would be finished by 1996 or 1997. He
also points out that given the extremely
poor recovery of dues by the Karnataka
Electricity Board, no international
investor would come in without some
security or counterguarantee of payment. He draws attention to the fact
that due to unwillingness of the railways
to guarantee timely and regular supplies
of coal, even the Andhra Pradesh State
Electricity Board has decided to lay in
reserves of 5 lakh tonne of imported
coal this year. "Our option for fuel
makes great economic as well as environmental sense," says Somers.
The leading business association of
the state - the Kanara Chamber of
Commerce - supports the entry of
outiside industries only if they commit
to provide sub-contracts and jobs to
locals. "We should judge them entirely
by the beneficiary tradeoffs they can
offer," says Gopinath Shenoy, the
Chamber president.
What turn the Dakshina Kannada
movement will finally assume, is yet to
be seen. The movement leaders sometimes exhibit distrust of the panchayati
institutions, although there is a high
rural participation. This is also fed by
the prosperous Moghaveera community's disdain for inland agricultural com-
munities recently besotted by
falling incomes. "The panchayats are full of illiterate people
who do not realise their longterm interests," said a,senior
agitationist. But typical is the
response of B N Shankara
Pujary, president, Udupi
Talukan Panchayat Samiti in
Brahmawar, which covers viliages around the Cogentrix site,
'Sometimes environmentalists
make some sense. But they can
also be very whimsical," he
observes.
I In contrast to the intentions of its
Bangalore leadership, the district BJP
unit had not considered any protest
against Cogentrix even late into
September. The four-member environmental committee appointed to investigate the plant had not met even once.
Moreover, since the district's dominant
:ndustrial house of the Pais have been
maditionally supporters of the
Congress, the Bip kept up supporting the
entry of mega-industries.
In Bangalore, Babu Mathews candidly admitted the weakness of leftist
political groups on environmental
issues. He sees the BJP as "keenly sensitive to people's movements. It displays a
dynamic opportunism with seemingly
pro-people programmes". In fact, several Bangalore-based environmentalists,
otherwise supportive of the Dakshina
Kannada movement, have already consigned it in the BJP's hands.
In Mangalore, however, the agitation leaders have begun to anticipate
manipulation of the fisherfolk's mood.
Dayanath Kotian tackles the issue
squarely, "We have entered the movement with long-term commitments.
After all, we are fighting for the right of
our future generations to continue fishing." The Okkutta leadership has tried
to sidestep the challenge altogether by
hunting for even more technical evidences against incoming
industries. "We are not
looking for politcal gain,"
says an activist, "We are
basing our arguments on
firm scientific data."
Some such consequences are already visible
in Dakshina Kannada.
According to the 1991
census, the combined
urban population f
Mangalore and Udupi was 586,000.
Through informal estimates, district
authorities estimate it around 750,000
now and project it to cross the I million
mark by AD 2000, with industrialisation
taking firm root. This burgeoning population's demand for housing and other
civic infrastructure has already crossed
the upper limits. Land prices in
Mangalore have doubled every year
during this decade. After much delay,
Mang4lore authorities started a Rs 18.Are water supply network, which
although is nearing completion, is
already inadequate.
Sewage disposal is a greater problem, with groundwater contamination
reported from several urban settlements. The DANIDA study projects that
vehicular traffic in the MangaloreUdupi corridor will rise by 400 per cent
over present levels by AD 2000. Traffic
density in this stretch is anyway among
the highest in south India.
There is a dire need for strong
regional level planning to regulate the
changes and prevent their worst consequences. "The collapse of civic infrastructure and regulation will only
encourage industry and everybody else
to exploit and abuse the environment all
the more," warns Rama-swamy. "We
have prepared a good plan and it is for
the government to implement it," is the
noncommital comment
of Fleming Mouritsen,
senior coordinator, DANIDA. The state has demonstrated little energy or
inclination to implement
this environmental master plan for Daskhina Kannada.
The hina Kannada Movement has vigourously focused attaintion on the probable imminent environmental future of the district. It
also appears to be the only
local body with sufficient
energy for forcing the agents
and groups which have made
this future imminent, to work
towards its mitigation. Ron
Somers asserts his desire for a
Citizens Advisory Council
from the local population
which would oversee all the
environmental aspects of the
Cogentrix power plant.
Cogentrix is also prepared to contribute
its share of a regional master plan that
maybe made compulsory for all incoming industry in Dakshina Kannnada.
"We must develop capabilities
and influence to operationalise the
ideal that industrial projects be vetted
by representatives of all the communities that may be affected," says
Shanbagh.