BackSterlite case: A renewed debate between industry and environment
The case has also brought into focus safety issues that planners, investors can’t ignore in quest for development
Premium(Rajan/Mint)
Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu): K. Expedith’s routine has been unvaried for the past 20 years. At seven in the morning, he opens his photocopying shop in the Lions Town area of Tuticorin. On 23 March, just after arriving, he suddenly fell ill.
“I suddenly developed heavy wheezing and fainted while opening the shutter," Expedith recalled. Many others in the Tamil Nadu port city complained the same day of breathlessness and a burning sensation in their eyes, nose and throat.
The cause was found to be a leak of sulphur dioxide gas from a copper plant owned by Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd located 18km away. There were no casualties, but the panic triggered by the leak among residents was sufficient to persuade the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to shut the plant on 29 March.
Such incidents always bring to mind one of the world’s worst industrial disasters—the December 1984 leak of the deadly methyl isocyanate gas from a Union Carbide Corp. pesticides plant in Bhopal that killed and maimed several thousand people.
Expedith and his fellow Tuticorin residents have unwittingly become part of the new economic development narrative in India, where many industrial units have been set up on land that’s close to residential areas. Not only has it sparked a renewed debate pitting industry against the environment, it has also brought into focus safety issues that planners and investors can’t afford to ignore in the quest for development.
The Supreme Court stressed in its 6 May ruling on the Kudankulam nuclear project that safety is not just a design-level feature, but an integral part of a plant’s operational life.
Earlier, on 2 April, the apex court imposed a ₹ 100 crore fine on Sterlite Industries, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, controlled by billionaire non-resident Indian businessman Anil Agarwal. The fine was imposed after the court found the company liable “for having polluted the environment in the vicinity of its plant".
“According to us, any less amount would not have the desired deterrent effect on the appellant-company," ruled the court which, however, overturned a 2010 directive by the Madras high court to permanently close the Tuticorin smelter on environmental concerns.
The Sterlite plant, located in the Sipcot industrial complex in Tuticorin, is 2km from the nearest village, Meelavittan. Sterlite has been operating a copper smelter in the area since 1995-96, producing 400,000 tonnes of copper per year and contributing significantly to the country’s production of the metal.
Various other industries are located nearby, but activists and local residents say the Sterlite copper smelter is the biggest polluter in the region. Most of the residents of Meelavittan village are fishermen who blame pollution for the reduced catch.
The company, which says it doesn’t know what went wrong that day and maintains that sulphur dioxide emissions by the plant were within prescribed limits, disagrees.
Although many other industries and thermal power plants are situated in the district, the locals tend to blame Sterlite for the problems as “it is a big company", said Pankaj Kumar, vice-president, operations, Sterlite Copper, a unit of Sterlite Industries. “Had we been a small company and a small plant, we wouldn’t have made news."
Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general at the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based not-for-profit organization, concurred. “But, since Vedanta is the biggest factory there, then obviously it must be contributing the most to pollution in the area. There have been cases of it discharging untreated waste water into the sea," among other environmental violations, he said.
D. Jackson Thomas, a resident of Meelavittan, said waste water from the Sterlite plant gets mixed with freshwater in the area’s stormwater drain and was responsible for animal deaths in the area. “Many of our goats, cows and buffaloes have died from drinking that water," he said.
Sterlite, however, claims that it is a zero wastewater discharge company. “We make sure that we don’t let off any of our wastewater in any of the water sources in the area," said Kumar.
At its core, the issue is the debate between development and environment, and an inability to strike the right balance, said an environment ministry official.
“The number of cases related to the environment in the courts have gone up in the past few years. While people want development and growth, they don’t want industries to be situated near their houses," said the official, who requested anonymity.
Ranged on one side are the local community and environmental activists, and on the other side are corporate lobbies, the official said, requesting anonymity.
Implicitly acknowledging the need for a fine balance, the Supreme Court resisted efforts to shut down the plant entirely.
As the population grows, infrastructure is needed for development, said Robert Tacon, managing director and founder of UK-based Boundes Sustainability Ltd, a a consulting firm.
“I have never seen a project that has no down side. Something or the other is going to be impacted. The issue is how do you minimize that impact," he said. Companies have to be ready to pay the price for the environmental and social impact of a project, he said. “Sometimes, the price of production goes up for a company because of this, and it should be ready for that."
While setting aside the Madras high court’s 2010 judgement shutting the smelter, the apex court observed that the plant contributes substantially to India’s production of the metal, used in sectors such as defence, electricity, automobiles, construction and infrastructure.
“We need mutual cooperation and trust and also need predictability," said Abhaya Agarwal, a partner at Ernst and Young India Pvt. Ltd, who oversees its infrastructure practice. “The biggest risk to investment is when a project is first cleared and then it is questioned—this is what companies cannot afford."
The government should strive to make the process of giving environmental clearances more predictable and transparent, Agarwal said. The setting up of the cabinet committee on investment to fast-track clearances for infrastructure projects is a step in that direction, he said.
“The process of CCI (cabinet committee on investment) itself is beneficial because departments are engaging with each other," he said, adding that the need for a collective decision-making body that can’t be overruled has been felt for some time now.
For environmentally sensitive projects, he said, an effort needs to be made to understand how the impact on the environment can be mitigated. “If mitigation is not possible, then project shouldn’t be given (environment clearance)," he says.
The problem is that the Union government is trying to force its definition of development on people from all over the country, said Nityanand Jayaraman, an environmental researcher based in Chennai.
“Essentially, it’s a war between those who want to acquire and those who don’t. It is a conflict of how people view development. The Prime Minister’s development is not what the people want," he said.
“My idea of development does not involve corporations at all," he said. “If I say I don’t want any corporations in the country, I am called a Naxalite. And what the government calls development, I call destruction. There has to be a way to reconcile these differences."
Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh observed in 2010 that “there is a continuing tension between those who espouse growth and those who call for environment protection".
“The two groups do not talk to each other—they are talking at each other, and with every passing day, the gap seems to be widening," he said. “But the real conflict is not between conservation and development, but between environment and the reckless exploitation of man and earth in the name of efficiency."
Given the pressure on land, conflicts such as those in Tuticorin may become the norm rather than the exception unless all the stakeholders are able to evolve a viable dispute resolution mechanism.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
