A Representation From:

The Villagers of Kadandale and Neighbouring Villages

C/o Subbaiah Shetty

Bandasale House

Kadandale Village and Post

Karkala Tk.

Dakshina Kannada

Tel: 08258-87239

18 September 1997

Submitted to:

The Hon’ble Expert Committee appointed by the Karnataka Government during their site visit to enquire into the violations of M/s. Engelhard Highland Pvt. Ltd. on 18 September 1997

Honourable Sirs,

We appreciate the commitment shown by the Government of Karnataka to the protection of environment and in safeguarding the interests of the local communities in appointing yourselves on 29 August 1997 on the floor of the Karnataka State Assembly to investigate into the actions of M/s Engelhard Highland Pvt. Ltd. which, as we will set out hereunder, have in fundamental violation of the law proceeded to construct an highly hazardous dyes and pigments manufacturing unit in an ecologically sensitive region and agricultural area at the foothills of the Western Ghats and on the banks of the Shambhavi River.

Sirs, ever since we noticed in December 1996 that a factory was coming up in the Kadandale village, we started raising our concerns, and approached the various relevant agencies, particularly the District Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, requesting that an enquiry be conducted into how an industry can suddenly come up in an area meant purely for agriculture. Several months passed but nothing was forthcoming, even as the suprestructure of the building for the industry was nearing completion. We tried to ascertain from the project developers whether they had obtained all the requisite clearances prior to starting construction, what the nature of the project was, and we always got evasive answers that created more confusion in the minds of the people.

We then started enquring with the local Kadandale Panchayat if the project had been cleared by them, particularly given that their clearance was mandatory to put up a building, only to realise that not only had the industry not obtained the building clearance, but had also proceeded to construct the building on lands that were still under the original owner, who is an agriculturist, and the lands in question are agricultural lands.

Sirs, it is our understanding that, as per law, agricultural lands can only be transferred for an agricultural purpose and that to only to another agriculturist. Never can an industry come up on agricultural land till such time the due process is undergone, and this involves official Gazette Notification, clearance from the various agencies including the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Board, a process of public enquiry seeking the opinion of the local public, etc. No such process has preceded the construction of the Engelhard industrial complex.

The site in question measures approximately 50 acres and is situated on the banks of the holy Shambavi River that serves as a major source of water to Kadandale and twenty other villages, and helps recharge the ground water aquifers of the area. The crystal clear and pure waters are dammed by a small barrage near the site so that we utilise the waters for irrigation and domestic purposes during the summer months. Also the project is coming up very much in the midst of a thickly wooded region and adjacent to the Kadandale Gutta Kaadu State Forest. Within 200 metres of the project site are the Subramanya Swamy High School, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Parishad Higher Elementary School, a Poor Boys Hostel, and over 200 houses for low-income-group.

The nature of the chemicals being manufactured by the industry and the processes involved are very much a secret to this day, even though there are various laws that mandate that the public must be kept in confidence in these aspects. We have tried our best to extract these details by approaching the various relevant agencies such as the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, the Karnataka Department of Ecology, Environment and Forests, and the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Board in our letters to them dated 11 July 1997 (encl.), but no response was obtained. The Director of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Board did write eventually and assure us that a site visit would be conducted, but the same has not happenned till date.

Subsequently, we started knocking on the doors of all these offices in Bangalore, calling for their attention to our concerns. Some assurances were provided that the matter would be looked into. However, no clear action was taken to either stay the project till our concerns were settled, or was an enquiry conducted.

It was during this painstaking search that we were shocked beyond reason to realise that the project had in fact been cleared by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board on 28 February 1997, a full three months after the project construction had begun.

We have sufficiently applied our minds to the law pertaining to the role of the Board, and we understand that no industry can come up till such time a NOC is obtained from the Board conforming with the relevant provision of the Water and Air Acts. And in no case shall the Board clear an industry that has already violated the law by starting construction, and certainly not if the project is coming up on agricultural lands and in a region that is ecologically sensitive. If anything, the Board was expected to stop the project and initiate stringent action against the violators, which obviously they have not done. Therefore, in keeping with the objectives of your mission, we beseech you to thoroughly enquire into the complicity of the Board and its officials and take such necessary steps as are necessary to ensure that such complicity and irresponsibility does not repeat in any future.

On perusal of the NOC granted by the Board, and other relevant documents circulated by the project developers, we have come to understand that the Engelhard project plans to manufacture dyes and pigments which are used in the manufacture of currency notes. It has been made known since, that the project is entirely export oriented and that the produce is to be exported to the USA for use in the dollar mints. We have also understood that the produce is in such little quantities, a few truck loads at the most, that this obviously is not an industry that needs to come up in such a remote village as Kadandale, particularly when there are so many established industrial estates across the state.

Why then are the project developers establishing the industry in Kadandale? We have no clear idea. However, we are aware that there is a process of dumping highly hazardous industrial processes in the developing world by developed countries, and could this be one such instance? This is a troubling question in our minds, with serious political repercussions, and we can only bring this possibility to your kind attention for further enquiry and appropriate action.

This question baffles us even more when we realise that the project has not obtained the environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, as per the Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 1994 and the Environment Protection Act 1986. This was brought to the notice of the Ministry and the Deputy Director of the Southern Cell has since held an enquiry by making a site visit on 15 September 1997. The results of his enquiry are thus awaited.

Sirs, we live in a region in tranquility and in total harmony with nature. It is our intention to pursue such lawful activites that will lead to the prosperity of one and all and most certainly in tune with Mother Nature. It is not out intention to see the destruction of the sources of livelihood of the villagers of Kadandale and other villages who depend on the holy Shambavi by the toxic effluents that are discharged by the Engelhard project. Nor is it our wish to see the vulnerable sections of society, paticularly the children and the aged, suffer from the noxious gases and waste products that are spewed out by this industry into our neighbourhood for decades on end and impacting on generations to come.

We are law abiding and peaceful citizens who have approached our elected representatives in our times of difficulty and they in their generosity have extended us the privelege of making to yourselves these submissions so that the real picture emerges. It is not for us to determine what action needs to be taken against the industry for violating the law and for those officials who have complied beyond their jurisdiction in attempting to legalise an illegal act. However, we believe that it is reasonable for us to expect that the project should not have come up here at all, and now that the structure has come up, the same should be demolished, the region restored to its original state at the cost of the developer and such other action taken that will win the confidence of the local communities that this is a country that upholds the law and punishes the guilty.

This submission we make to you, Honourbale Sirs, not only in the interest of the present generation, but those that are yet to come, so they shall cherish the freedom of breathing fresh air and drinking pure water and eating food grown on healthy soil. For they shall remember the good grace by which the Government of Karnataka recognised the efforts of the villagers of Kadandale in protecting their environment, a constitutional obligation of every citizen.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely