Environment minister Kamal Nath has been caught in the firing line on the Chilika Aquatic Farms project. His order for an environmental impact assessment to be prepared is merely a move to delay taking a decision.
UNION environment minister Kamal
Nath's order of July 30 -which has
yet to reach the Orissa government
-to stop work on the Chilika
Aquatic Farms project till an independent consultant assessed its likely environmental impact may have,
at best, bought some time for him.
Orissa chief minister Biju Patnaik
and those opposed to the project,
meanwhile, are bracing themselves
for a renewal of their fight over
prawn fishing and lake degradation.
Nath is under pressure from the
Orissa chief minister to allow work
to continue on the state government's
joint venture with the House of
Tata Steel for a 600-ha prawn culture farm. Sources here say Patnaik
has approached Prime Minister P V
Narasimha Rao to get Nath to clear
the project quickly. On the other
hand, several Orissa Congress MPs,
including K P Singhdeo aJ
Sriballabh Panigrahi, are pressurl
ing Nath not to yield on the projel
which seems to have become a prE
tige issue for Patnaik.
It was reportedly under pressu
from both these camps that Nal
held a meeting on July 30 and ask
for work on the project to
pending environmental clearance.
The environmental impact assesment (EIA) being prepared by tb
public sector Water and POWE
Consultancy Services (W APCOS)
was found unacceptable, as W AI
COS did not have the necessar
expertise to clear such a project
says Banka Behary Das, one of the
most vocal Opponents of the projet
and a former Orissa minister, who
was present at the meeting.
While opponents of the project
led by Das, expressed satisfaction a
Nath's decision, the chief minister
has already announced that he
would not willingly submit so easily
to the authority of the Central ministry. He is reported to have told
Nath on July 31, "Fish does not create environmental hazards. Those
who do not know anything about
environment are shouting unnecessarily. You should not listen to
them."
Meanwhile, opponents of the
project fear the combined clout of
Biju Patnaik and the Tata group
could eventually ensure clearance
for the project and probably even
influence the independent consultant's report. "Once the consultant's
report says the project would not
pollute the lake, it will be difficult
even for Kamal Nath to stop clearance," Das commented. No wonder,
then, he has called on the Orissa
Krushak Mahasangh, which he
heads, to prepare for a legal battle
as well.
Patnaik and project officials are
once again alleging opposition to the
project is politically motivated. A
Tata executive speaking on conditions of anonymity argued, "If. there
is such intense mass resentment
against the project, why did only
about a dozen people turn up for the
demonstration before the environment ministry? And, why is former
chief minister J B Patnaik, who first
called us in, now opposing the pro-
ject?"
Ironically, however, work on the
project came to a halt in mid-July -
not by Union fiat or by orders from
the local authorities, but because
the onset of the rainy season
prevents movement of heavy
vehicles.
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