India: Local villagers rallied against polluter paper mill
The Kali Bachao Andolan (Movement to Save the Kali) made a dramatic move against
the serious pollution that the West Coast Paper Mills (WCPM) is causing to the
Kali River by discharging untreated effluents. For long local people have suffered
enormously from the pollution as they were repeatedly threatened with job losses
if WCPM was pressurized to be environmentally responsible.
On 30 September, villagers from worst affected Kariampalli, along with representatives of Environment Support Group, Parisara Samrakshana Kendra, Alternative Law Forum and Samvada, rallied through the Dandeli town and entered the WCPM campus in time for the Annual General Meeting.
Shareholders were met with individually and pressed to hold their company's leadership accountable for their lax environmental management and criminal neglect of affected communities. Clearly caught off guard, and deeply embarrassed, Mr. Chandak, Executive Director of WCPM, offered to eet with key 'leaders' of Kali Bachao Andolan. He was told that he must meet all, or none would meet him.
In over two hours of deliberations that followed, Leo Saldanha, speaking for KBA and the affected villagers, charged the company with:
* Willful negligence causing serious pollution of the Kali River, and its ecology
and extracting water far in excess of consented quantities.
* Causing grievous injury and harm to villagers downstream of the effluent discharge
point.
* Criminal neglect of villagers affected by the pollution incident which on
29/30 June 2003 led to an epidemic outbreak of gastroenteritis and death (see
http://www.narmada.org/related.issues/kali/documents/ cm.complaint.20030714.html
).
* Lax approach to statutory warnings requiring the company to install a state
of the art effluent treatment plant. Further, carelessly discharging fly ash
from the power plant, including in a local college campus.
* Gross violation of production limits set, as the company was on record that
it was producing more than twice the consented quantity. This resulted in more
fresh water intake, and doubling of pollution, with consequent adverse impacts
on public health and environment.
* The regulatory authority appears to have colluded with the company by not
examining report details and failing to take appropriate action.
* The company has behaved in a manner as to threaten the local communities with
dire action if they questioned its errant behaviour.
Mr. Chandak had little to offer in explanation. He was also unable to deny any of these charges. Consequently he made the following commitments:
1. WCPM will undertake the expenses of providing drinking water to all villages
affected by pollution of Kali due to discharge of effluents.
2. WCPM will invest in a mobile medical unit to provide immediate health relief
to affected villages.
3. WCPM will accept monetary claims from all affected families. These claims
would include cost of loss of income and livelihood due to disease, death and
disease of cattle and failure of crops.
4. One year's livelihood support would be extended on claim to Jahnu, a Gowli
who suffered acute renal failure, and also his sister-in-law, who lost a new
born infant, due to pollution from WCPM. Mr. Chandak also confirmed that the
production process would be modernized to make it elemental-chlorine free, but
not soon.
This protest marks an important departure in the nature of events in Dandeli; local people have now been shown the way ahead in negotiating a better deal for themselves and those who work in this large paper mill.
Article based on information from: “KBA Protest Enters West Coast Paper
Mills”, press release 6 October 2003, issued by Environment Support Group,
e-mail: [email protected] , on behalf of Kali Bachao Andolan; “Epidemic
Outbreak of Gastroenteritis and Death due to Pollution of Kali River by West
Coast Paper Mills”,
http://www.narmada.org/related.issues/kali/images/dandeli.protest.html