Wasteland or wetland?

AFTER a year-long lull, the Nirma case is back in the news. Despite two committee reports stating that the land on which the detergent company wants to set up a cement plant is a wetland, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a site visit by its expert committee. On February 19, the Bench of NGT chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar ordered re-evaluation of the project site by its members D K Agarwal, G K Pandey and A R Yousuf.

In 2008, the Gujarat government had allotted 268 hectares (ha) to Nirma Limited to set up the cement plant at Mahuva block in Saurashtra’s Bhavnagar district. The land includes a part of reservoir called Samadhiyala Bandhara and its catchment. Samadhiyala Bandhara along with three other reservoirs, Kalsar, Nikol and Malan, is the lifeline of the farmers of the region, helping irrigate over 8,500 ha of agricultural land. Nirma Limited wants to set up a cement plant of 1.91 million tonnes per annum capacity, a 50 megawatt captive power plant and a coke oven plant on the water body, raising concerns about the effects it will have on the land’s productivity and people’s livelihood.