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Human Cost of Energy. Case of GMR Project in Odisha, India. Amulya Nayak Odissa Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad ( Odissa Agriculture and Environment Protection Council) September 21, 2011. The Region.
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Human Cost of Energy Case of GMR Project in Odisha, India Amulya Nayak Odissa Chas PariveshSurekhsaParishad (Odissa Agriculture and Environment Protection Council) September 21, 2011
The Region • Angul Talcher Meramandali industrial belt in Odisha roughly covers 300 square kilometers • Major Projects: • National Aluminum Company Limited • National Thermal Power Corporation • Mahanadi Coal Field Limited • Fertilizer Corporation of India • Talcher Thermal Power Station, • LANCO power limited, • Jindal Steel and energy, • Bhusan steel and energy.
Central Pollution Control Board of the Government of India in December 2009 classified 88 industrial clusters of India to be at risk of being unfit for habitation. • Includes Angul-Talcher belt of Odisha. • Ministry of Environment and Forests in January 2010 imposed a temporary moratorium. • This very area is also home to roughly half a million people.
GMR • IFC financed, through a financial intermediary, GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited • 1400 MW coal based thermal power project located at Kamalangavillage • Fully irrigated agricultural land acquired. • Rengali canal system was funded by the World Bank in late 80’s and was used to irrigate the agricultural lands. • Now acquired from the farmers to construct a power project funded by the IFC. • Contradiction of funding, inconsistency and lack of planning.
Serious Environmental and Social Impacts • 1300 acres of multi-crop irrigated land has been diverted for industrial use • No public hearing • 1300 families have lost their agricultural lands and another 100 have been economically displaced. • People were not given the EIA reports • No information was made available to the affected community. • This area has been identified as a critically polluted zone. • No cumulative impact assessment study before sanctioning another power project in the area.
Project runs along the river Bhramani • It will be impossible for the people to use the water from Bhramani. • Less compensation to some people and to some they have not even bothered to pay. • They used force and intimidation. • Use of force, intimidation or coercion. • The company along with the local mafia and police has threatened the people and silenced them.
Police arrested almost 45 affected villagers along with women and charged 500 others of rioting. • People have been living under fear and the local police and mafia have been intimidating them • 25% are tribals (indigenous people) and 35% are marginalized people (dalits). • Constitutional rights they enjoy are flouted and are made further vulnerable.
Key issues • Energy that is being produced by GMR has no meaning for us nor does it help us in anyway. • Paid a heavy price for power, which was not meant for us but for the ‘power-full’. • We hold World Bank responsible for our misery • Without Bank financing probably the project would not have ever come up. • IFC decided to fund this through a financial intermediary further worsened the situation. • Our chances of getting information about the project in advance, and application of safeguard policies was eliminated. • Filed a case before the CAO and we expect justice from that process.
