To                                10^th   August, 2006.

Member Secretary, 

Orissa State Pollution Control Board,

Nilakanthanagar

Bhubaneshwar 
 
 

Sub- Objection to the Installation of steel and power plant of M/S S.P.S steel & power Ltd, Kukurjanga, Jharsuguda

Dear Sir,

We came to know the advertisement published by state pollution control board regarding the proposed installation of steel and power plant by M/S S.P.S steel and power plant ltd at Kukurjanga, Jharsuguda. As a native of this area I am here by submitting my objections regarding this public hearing. The Jharsuguda block of Jharduguda district has already been severely polluted due to installation/operation of a large number of major and minor industry and mines. Recently we came to knew from the news paper regarding the statement of chief minister of Orissa on the floor of assembly on 31.07.2006 regarding the pollution status of Orissa in which our block was found to be severely polluted. The data was provided by the state pollution control board office. So keeping these things in mind it is really astonishing that your office is further allowing to setup of industry in these pollution sensitive area. You may be aware regarding the strong public protest at the public hearing meeting of Bhusan steel plant at Khinda village in April where your board officer was working as facilitator for the company. I got a copy of the EIA report from the regional Board office with great difficulty. A gloss over the report founds a number of serious violations to the actual guidelines of EIA notification, 1994.

Our objection:

1- The place where the public hearing meeting will be conducted is not accessible to common people of this area.

2- As the Jharsuguda block has been declared as a sensitive area from air pollution point of view, so further setting of industry will multifold the problem.

3- The report ignores the impact of drawing water in lean season from Ib River and the resulting impact.

4- The project proponent has not provided with the alternative location for setting up the project.

5- The environment management plan for the solid waste is found missing. Even the area selected for this dumping purpose is not found in the report.

The detail objection in this regard is as follows: 
 

I-Considering the large scale of investment, will this rapid EIA report addresses all the problem  ? 
 

It seems that the consultancy engaged in preparation of the EIA report lacks knowledge regarding various environmental rules and regulation. According to the guidelines framed by impact assessment division MOEF, (components of EIA), submission of a professionally prepared comprehensive EIA would be generally be the more efficient approach. Keeping in mind, the large of investment by the project proponent (742 crore rupees & 2 lakh tones/annum), how a study of just 3 month (pre- monsoon season) will be sufficient to predict the future. It is a serious violation of the EIA notification, 1994. 
 

II- No alternative site has been provided in the rapid EIA report:

The guideline framed by the impact assessment division, MOEF has mentioned about the consideration of alternatives with respect to sitting of projects and technology/ process. But no where in the report, such alternative has been found. this is a serious violation of the guidelines framed by MOEF. 
 

III-Cumulative impact of pollution due to the setup of industry has been ignored: It is observed that a number of industries are in operation in the 10 km radius of the proposed plant site. The Bhusan Steel Ltd. (at Thelkuli) which is at a distance of 3-4 km from the project site has already started operation. Similarly a number of Sponge Iron Plants such as – Sponge Iron Plant of LN Metallic Ltd (at Sripura), Sponge Iron Plant and 80 MW CPP of SMC power generation co-operation (located at Hirma), Maa Samaleswari Sponge Iron Ltd (located at Katarbaga) have started working and a number of sponge iron plants are in the pipeline in the near future. Similarly the Vedanta group is going to setup its smelter plant in Brindamal village and the Reliance group has signed a MOU with the state government for setting up a coal based power plant at Hirma. So considering the cumulative impact due to the operation of these clusters of industries, it can be predicted that the pollution load in this area would be severe in the upcoming days. However the EIA report only considers the emissions from the steel iron plant when carrying out the air and water sampling study. The EIA hasn’t even considered the pollution load from the 70 MW thermal power plants while calculating the pollution load, which is illegal and technically misleading. Considering this lacuna in the EIA, it should be summarily rejected and a fresh EIA be asked for.

IV-The implication of Huge water with drawl from IB River & its impact on Hirakud reservoir has been ignored: Water from Ib River (which finally falls in to the Hirakud reservoir) will be drawn at the rate of 920 CUM /hr to fulfill the water requirement for industrial operation (page –E3). However the report does not show any where what will be the impact on the Biodiversity of Hirakud reservoir, especially during lean season due to with drawl of water from Ib River. The IB River has already been drastically polluted due to the discharge of coal mines effluent from MCL mines. Similarly the water flow significantly dries up during summer day. So considering the above reason, it can be easily concluded that withdrawal of such amount of water will have drastic impact on the flora and fauna on IB and Hirakud reservoir.  Similarly construction of intake well on the bank of Mahandai River will result in to further reduction of water in the reservoir.

V-Misleading information regarding Impact on local climate due to industrialization has been provided in the report: In page no 3.4, it has been mentioned that the temperature of stack emission will have no impact on the local climate. It has been found that the temperatures in Jharsuguda hover around 50^oC during summer days. So the prediction of the proposed industry on the local climate that has been mentioned in the report is totally false and wrongly predicted.

VI-Impact on ecology is totally misleading: Page number E.3 mentions that this project will have no impact on the local ecology. Similarly the report has ignored the impact of disposal of liquid effluent generated from the plant premises, flowing of debris and solid waste generated from the site in monsoon season. The forest located around the site is the major connecting link between the Debrigarh and Badrama wild life sanctuary. It acts as a safe passage for the animals from one part to another. Setting up this industry will destroy the vital corridor thus affecting the movement of wild animals.

VII-Selection of monitoring station/season for collection of base line data is not found to be fruitful: The EIA report has been prepared basing upon the data collected from January 2005 to March 2005 which is for a period of only 3 month. Even a layman can say that data collection for such a short period is not at all sufficient for predicting the likely impact of a large scale industry on the surrounding environment. The following are the major draw backs in the baseline data collection done by the consultancy.

1. The ambient air quality monitoring stations, noise monitoring station was made in areas where there is no industrial activity.
2. The sampling sites for ecological monitoring have been deliberately sited in areas which are devoid of dense vegetation. There are 7 reserve forests around the project site, but the consultancy has selected only those sites which have less species diversity and richness. This is extremely serious and shows the malign intention of the agency preparing the EIA.
3. No data has been given related to the migratory bird of the area.

VIII-EIA report ignores the impact of the project on health of common people : The project in its health aspects mentions that the construction sites for plant and an area adjacent to the plant will experience “some increase in pollution”, mainly SPM. The report has not mentioned anything about the common dangerous disease found around the steel industry due to emission of various types of gaseous emission and liquid effluent contaminating with heavy metals. Such casualness about health and lives of tens of thousands of people shows how casually the EIA Report has dealt with the health and safety aspects.  
 

IX- Employment opportunity due to setting of industry is misleading:

The EIA report has mentions that some 738 number of people will get regular job opportunity where as an additional 2000 people will get casual job opportunity due to setting up this industry. This data provided by the project proponent is a mere hoax. We have seen that a very few local people have been absorbed in the company located in this area and that to some 4^th grade job like driver, Gardner, sweeper. So this data provided by company is only to mislead the poor and innocent people by luring them with employment opportunity. 
 

Sir, finally we request to you that we no more need further industry in our area. We have got fed up with the mis-deed on the part of these industries. We do not want to see that our offspring’s suffers from asthma, cancer due to high pollution. Therefore, you are requested to kindly cancel this public hearing other wise we will be compelled to take the law and order in to our own hand. 
 

Yours faithfully, 
 
 

Ashok Dash

President,

Paribesh,

AT/PO- Lapanga

Rengali

Sambalpur.

Cc- Director, MOEF, GOI, CGO complex New Delhi;

      Secretary, Dept of forest and environment, Orissa government.