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Monday, December 16, 2013

High Court directs Madhya Bharat to comply with State Govt recommendations

HYDEL PROJECT DEVELOPER TO UNDERTAKE DETAILED SURVEY AND MAPPING OF TUNNELING AREA
GANGTOK, 15 Dec: The villagers of Sumin have won a major victory over the Madhya Bharat Company with the High Court of Sikkim issuing an ad interim order in their favour. After months of having to live in the wake of environmental degradation and threat of erosion of their way of living primarily due to what they see as irresponsible and careless construction and tunneling works by the company, the villagers now have got an order from the Court by which they can feel relatively safe and secure.
The Single Bench of the Court comprising Acting Chief Justice NK Jain has directed the company developing the 96MW hydroelectric project on the Rongni Chu at Sumin in East District to comply with the terms and conditions of the environmental conditions; further it has been directed to comply with the recommendations of the State government as made through the SPDC and also adhere to the recommendations and findings of the Mines and Geology department.
In the last hearing on the matter on 12 December, counsel for the petitioners Dr. Doma Bhutia had submitted that the company had violated the conditions of environmental clearance for which alone the works were liable to be stopped. She also presented a parallel with the natural calamity recently in Uttarakhand where irresponsible muck dumping by a company undertaking a hydroelectric project was alleged to have been a factor; here the muck has reportedly been dumped on khasmal lands of the villagers. This would take a very long time to clear out apart from it being a violation of forest laws of the state.
While the application for a Stay has been kept pending till after the vacation of the Court, the Single bench took note of the urgency of the matter and passed the ad interim order.
Apart from degradation of their lands due to muck dumping the villagers feel threatened by the tunneling works. A supposedly wrong contour map drawn up by the company has already led to the collapse of the tunnel roof at one location near Adit 2. Further, since the map indicates the tunnel to be passing under some dwellings including a monastery constructed in the 1920s the people are apprehensive that their houses could be in danger. In fact the report of the Mines & Geology Department apprehends water seepage at the site of the collapse. Already these houses and the gumpa have suffered damages due to unsupervised blasting works, it is contended.
Following apprehensions of the villagers, the SPDC as well as the Mines and Geology deptt had conducted a survey and their findings clearly find the project developer to have been casual and faulty. The company is now required to follow their recommendations.
As per the recommendations of the SPDC there needs to be a detailed topographical survey and geographical mapping of the area only after which the tunnel can be re-aligned. This, it says, has to be done by Design Consultants and a report on this has to be forwarded to the government as well. The place where the tunnel roof has collapsed needs to be filled till at least 20 m. The company is also now required to identify depressions and nallah crossings and surveyed afresh.
For blasting works it is recommended that the company employ government reputed agencies the findings of which need to be forwarded to the government. The SPDC has finally stated that the project developer should have the entire reservoir area geologically mapped and critical locations along the rim identified for suitable treatment. In fact the SPDC in its report has also stated that there was a major error on the part of Madhya Bharat in the Topographical survey. The contour topographical map, it says, is incorrect which led to the collapse of the tunnel in Adit 2. The report also finds lack of sub surface geological investigation by the company.
The report of Mines and Geology, which is also to be complied with, opines that the contour map appears to have been manipulated without proper ground truthing. This report recommends immediate sealing where the tunnel has collapsed and also total realignment survey of the tunnel. Significantly the report raises the concern of the sudden disappearance of a perennial jhora and investigation into the matter. It advises the construction of proper retaining structure below the Adit 2 where the tunnel collapse has occurred. In an interesting observation it has noted that there is no monitoring authority and therefore urgent need for one particularly in view of the fragile environment. Now it needs to be seen how the project developer complies with these recommendations and findings and to what extent it can alleviate the apprehensions of the villagers, if at all. Needless to say, construction work continues.

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