The announcement that more cement factories will be set up in the state has unleashed a controversy. Units already operational have not controlled emissions and it is feared more plants will further degrade the environment and adversely affect tourism.
THE DECISION of the Himachal
Pradesh governnment to set up four
Large and 12 small cement plants in
The state has unleashed a controversy
pwite one Union minister
lVAmother and arousing protests
fonmentalists. Though
Lwiories are listed by the
of environment and
as a major polluter, it
plGaoarat Ambuja Ltd's major
it in Darlaghat and is
s looking favourably on
ns for three more large
S"ndarnagar, Chamba and
Arki and 12 smaller ones.
Union minister for planning and
Non-convensional energy Sukh Ram wrote to his cabinet colleague, environment minister Kamal Nath urging Ambuja clearance be revoked because the cement plant would pollute the air,"A state like Himachal Pradesh must always depend on eco-friendly industries for revenue and employment."
Sukh Ram's ire was aroused when the BJP government was announced at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Gujarat Ambuja plant that more such units would be set up.The forest department objected to the notification on environmental grounds and local villagers prosted, fearing displacement.
Amid the euphoria when Kamal Nath laid the foundation stone of the Gujurat Ambuja plant, few noticed the unhappy residents of
Duaru village, who lost their land, to
the project. "We do not have any
land left," one of the villagers
moaned. "Our fields have disappeared and the road has come close
to our homes." The villagers maintain they did not give up land voluntarily, saying, "Dhamka ke hamse
sign karaya gaya hai" (We signed
under duress). The few lakh rupees
in compensation has been reduced to
small amounts after sharing among
all the claimants and the promised
land-for-land has not materialised. In
Arki, residents have filed
suit to block the pro
posed cement factory of
the Minerars and Metals
Trading Corp (MMTC)
contending it will
destroy their forests and
cause them immense
been hardship.
Whether Sukh Ram's
apprehensions are justified should be answered
within the framework of
how the state's two
major cement plants
operate. Both the Cement
Corp of India (CCI) factory at Rajban in Sirmur district and
the Gagal Associated Cement Co Ltd
(ACC) unit in Bilaspur have come in
for sharp criticism for failing to meet
pollution standards.
But P K Kaku, deputy general
manager of the ACC plant, contends,
"We have geared all our efforts to
work out a better environment management plan through systems design
and systems improvement." He
explained the anti-pollution devices
- electrostatic precipitators (ESPs)
that trap particulate matter in gases
and dust bags that collect dust inside
the factory - have been suitably
modified.
Even so, the chimneys at the ACC
plant and at Rajban continue to belch
dense clouds, which coat the surrounding vegetation with a thick
layer of white dust. Furthermore,
ACC's claim that the emission level
at its plant is well below the set limit
of 150 milligram (mg) suspended particulate matter (SPM) per cubic metre
and will drop to 100 mg SPM per
cubic metre after complete plant
upgrading, has not impressed the
state pollution control authorities.
They say emission levels around the
ACC factory this summer were 380
mg SPM per cubic metre.
The company's defence in this
matter is that it cannot prevent the
ESPs from tripping because the coal
used varies widely in ash content
and quality, making it difficult to
maintain thermal stability inside the
kiln. And, CCI general manager M P
Sinha argued, "Foolproof technology
that can prevent tripping of the ESP
does not exist in this country."
But S S Juneja, secretary of the
state pollution control board, insists
"ESPs can be maintained at 99.5 per
cent efficiency, provided design
quality is also maintained. In Europe,
if the ESPs trip, which is rare, the
entire production comes to a halt."
There have been complaints that
cement plants do not operate their
ESPs so they can save on costs. But
ACC general manager S C Sachdev
said this was not so because the plant
can augment its revenue by recycling
dust trapped by the ESP. "If we do
not operate our ESPs," he said,
"about 10 per cent of our cement production will fly out and, at current
prices, this is valued at Rs 3 lakh a
day." But to this, state pollution control board officials retorted, "Raw
materials like limestone and clay are
so cheap, they couldn't care less
about recycling."
"Everybody focuses only on the
factory chimney," pointed out ACC
personnel manager Indrish Chandra.
"What is not noticed is the unregulated development that takes place once
a big project comes up and the auto
and dust pollution that results from
the plying of 2,000 or so trucks and
other vehicles."
The victims of the pollution,
however, have, a different tale to narrate. Villagers in the Rajban area
complain that crops 'like chana and
masoor pulses have disappeared
completely from their village. "Crops
shrivel up under the heavy coating of
cement dust," said panchayat mem-
ber Harbhajan Singh. "Even our old
mango trees, which have a girth of
more than six metres, have stopped
bearing fruit. Now, we have to buy
fodder because our grass has dried
up and cattle that earlier gave 10
kilos of milk now barely give 2
kilos," he added.
Scientists at the agricultural university at Dhaulakuan in Sirmur district say. dust layers on leaves prevents pod formation in gram and linseed. There is evidence also that sal
trees near the Raiban CCI factory
have been affected by dust and the
incidence of respiratory illnesses has
increased since the CCI began operations.
A question that some have raised
is whether mini-plants can substitute
adequately for the large cement factories as the emission control technologies are either too expensive or not
efficient enough. The 12 mini-plants
in Himachal Pradesh are almost
wholly concentrated in Sirmur
district.
Experts note that
until recently plants
with a 50-60 tonne
capacity did rfot have
appropriate technology
sions. State pollution
control board
say small units were
emitting upto 1,500
mg SPM per cubic
metre, well above the
norm of 400 mg SPM
per cubic metre,
which was revised
and lowered recently
to 250 mg SPM per
cubic metre. The
problem
with miniplants is that the cost of ESPs is more than the total capital cost of the plant.
The conventional manufacturing technology used in mini-plants, known as Saboo VSK technology was thought to be energy efficient and it used pollution control methods such as wet (which suck up dust) and dust bag,for more efficient pollution control," Juneja noted.
Juneja's call poses a financing problem because mini-plants cannot spend much on pollution control.The onus therefore is on the cement industry to prove that their devices really do clean harmful emissions.
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