Archive for the 'Metals and alloys' Category

New investments and investment projects under implementation

Angul, Anugul- Talcher - Saranga- Nalconagar, Balasore, Balasore- Chandipur, Bhadrakh, Bouda, Business Standard, Cement, Coal to diesel, Cuttack, Dhamara- Chandbali- Bhitarakanika, Gasification (from Coal), Investment ranking, Jajpur, Jharsugurha, Keonjhar, Ore pelletisation, Sonepur, Sundergarh 2 Comments »

Following is from a Business Standard report in sify.com.

Orissa has continued its growth momentum as a favourite destination for investors attracting investments worth Rs 98,929.49 crore in the April-June period of this fiscal. The most of these new investment proposals are in sectors like power, steel, cement, food processing and downstream industries.

The single largest investment proposal of Rs 45,000 crore has come from Strategic Energy Technology Systems Pvt Ltd for a coal to liquid project at Angul on May 12, 2010.

The bulk of the investments- Rs 33,569.25 crore has been proposed in the power sector with proposals for setting up of Independent Power Plants (IPPs) with a cumulative capacity of 7740 MW.

Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) Power Limited has proposed to set up a 270 MW (2×135) coal-based thermal power plant at Haridaspur in Jajpur district. Similarly, KU Projects intends to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Thakurpur in Sonepur district at an investment of Rs 7260 crore. This project has been cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) of the state government.

Similarly, Shivani Thermal Power Station of Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) has proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Chhotapadagan in Cuttack district at a cost of Rs 7554.54 crore.

Visa Power has submitted a revised proposal to the state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Brahmanabasta in Cuttack district, entailing an investment of Rs 6319.48 crore.

Shri Anant Infra Energy Pvt Limited has evinced interest to set up a 210 MW coal-based power plant at Garjan Bahal in Sundergarh district.

Responsive Industries Ltd has proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Manmunda in Boud district at a cost of Rs 6487.50 crore.

CLP Power India Pvt Ltd plans to set up a 1980 (3×660) MW power plant at Majhapada in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

Among the investment proposals in the cement sector, Kolkata-based Icore Super cement Ltd has proposed to set up a cement plant at Somnathpur in Balasore district at an investment of Rs 151 crore.

While Ramco Industries Limited has evinced interest to set up a 120,000 tonnes per annum asbestos fibre cement sheet plant at Jharsuguda at a cost of Rs 35 crore, Madras Cement intends to set up a 4000 tonne per day cement plant at Nandibera in Malkangiri district at a cost of Rs 750 crore.

Reliance Cementation Ltd has submitted proposal for a 2.8 million tonne per annum cement plant at Jallangbara in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 970 crore.

Similarly, Binani Cement plans to set up a one million tonne per annum clinker grinding unit at Dhamara in Bhadrak district at a cost of Rs 130 crore.

In the steel sector, Rashmi Metalliks Limited has proposed to set up a three million tonne per annum pelletisation plant and 44 m captive power plant at Baliarpur in Bhadrak district at an investment of Rs 3465 crore.

The Orissa Minerals Development Company Limited has evinced interest for a two million tonne per annum beneficiation and pelletisation plant at Dalki in Keonjhar district at a cost of Rs 889 .

Following is excerpted from a report in indiainfoline.com.

The statewise breakup of investment under implementation as on June ’10 (Rs. Crores) has been Maharashtra (666065), Orissa (498190), Gujarat (487361), Andhra Pradesh (478612), Tamil Nadu (334960), UP (326356), Haryana (318488), West Bengal (288109), Karnataka (279033), Jharkhand (173008), Chhattisgarh (167557), Madhya Pradesh (165848), Kerala (126223), Punjab (115683), Rajasthan (84955), Bihar (59339), Jammu & Kashmir (44339), Himachal Pradesh (43928), Uttrakhand (38869), Assam (36124).

… The capital goods industry’s performance is mainly on account of spurt in investment activity in Haryana, UP, Kerela, Orissa and Uttarakhand in the first quarter of 2009-10.

… The rate of implementation (% share in total live investments) as per June 2010 in prominent states, has been the most in Haryana (81.5) followed by UP (70.6), Assam (65.9), Maharashtra (61.7), Punjab (60), Andhra Pradesh (58.5), Himachal Pradesh (56), Jammu & Kashmir (53.1), Kerala (51.9), Bihar (50.5), West Bengal (49.4), Tamil Nadu (47.7), Orissa (44.3), Chhattisgarh (40.6), Madhya Pradesh (40.2), whereas states like Uttrakhand (39.1), Gujarat (38.9), Rajasthan (34.7), Karnataka (32.7) and Jharkhand (28.2) are lagging behind in this aspect.

Status of Essar Steel projects in Odisha

Iron Ore, Jagatsinghpur, Ore pelletisation, Paradip - Jatadhari - Kujanga, Ruias/Essar group, Steel Comments Off on Status of Essar Steel projects in Odisha

Following is from a report in Orissadiary.

The 6-million tonne Essar Steel pellet plant here will be made operational by October this year. The `2,200-crore project includes an 8-MT ore beneficiation plant at Joda and Barbil and a 250-km slurry pipeline from Joda to Paradip. The company plans to expand the beneficiation and pellet manufacturing capacities to 12 MT in the future.

Initially, the company will source iron ore from private mines at Joda and Barbil. However, the company expects that the State and Central Governments will grant it lease for a captive mine in the long run.

The pellets to be produced at Paradip would be exported through the Paradip Port to Essar’s steelmaking unit at Hazira in Gujarat, which is undergoing a capacity expansion to 9.6 MT from 4.6 MT by 2012, said sources.

Following is excerpts from an interview in Business Standard. The investment numbers mentioned there does not quite gel with the numbers mentioned above.

Is there a time frame for realising the long-term vision?

It arises from the commitments, as well as MoUs (memorandums of understanding) with various state govts. These are linked to raw material. It’s a chicken and egg story. You need the raw material, otherwise you are not going to invest. We have our plans in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. In Orissa, we are already completing the first phase. In Karnataka, we have signed the MoU and the government is looking to provide land. But we also want the mines. We don’t want to create a situation where all the investments are done and then you say the mines are not available.

The Orissa government has a clause in the MoU that the state will recommend mines once you have made commitments for 25-30 per cent.

Yes, commitments have to be made, which implies it could be orders. But a 12-million tonne plant will cost anything between $12 billion and $15 billion. Thirty per cent of that will be $4.5 bn. How can anyone expend $4.5 bn in the hope that one will get the mines? It’s easier for smaller players.

Investment pouring in to Paradip: Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times

Jagatsinghpur, Paradip - Jatadhari - Kujanga, PCPIR, Petrochemicals, Steel Comments Off on Investment pouring in to Paradip: Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times

Following are extracted from his article in Economic Times.

  • The port town in Jagatsinghpur district, about 120 km from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, has already emerged as one of the country’s major investment hotspots by attracting investment in excess of Rs 3.5 lakh crore including the Rs 2, 74,134 crore Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) and the biggest FDI proposal by Posco to build a 12-million ton steel plant at an estimated cost of Rs 51, 000 crore.
  • The port town already boasts of major fertilizer manufacturers like IFFCO and Paradeep Phosphates Limited, a brewery along with central depot of Indian Oil and other small industries like Kargil Oil, Paradeep Carbon and a host of other units.
  • … an integrated Petroleum, Chemicals, and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) promoted by the state government on the lines of Pudong in China, Rotterdam in Europe and Houston in North America.
  • IOC is already coming up with 15 MMTPA grassroot refinery cum petrochemical complex five kilometer to the south of Paradeep Port at an estimated cost of Rs 25,646. For this, the state government has given incentives to IOC by exempting entry tax on crude oil and sales tax deferment for 11 years. The IOC already has got the required 3344 acres of land.
  • The Railways is also committed to boost connectivity in the Paradeep region which includes the 82-km Paradeep-Haridaspur broad gauge line, being taken up at an investment of Rs 577.78 crore. East Coast Railway (ECoR) has acquired 1,146 acres of private land out of the total of 1,653 acres of land required for the project. This project being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) is scheduled for completion by March 2011.
  • The other projects in different stages of implementation Hydrate Pellets Ltd’s six lakh tone hydrate pelts plant at Rs 10,724 crore, Essar Steel Orissa Ltd’s six million ton steel plant at Rs 10,721 cr], Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (DFPCL’s three lakh mtpa green-field complex for Nitric Acid and Ammonium Nitrate at Paradeep at a cost of Rs 400 crore NSL Sugar Ltd’s sugar plant at Rs 800 crore and other mini projects.

One other thing that is not elaborated in the article is that as part of the PCPIR several things will be funded by the state government and several other things will be funded by the central government.The following is excerpted from an older article in Business Standard.

  • “The Centre would provide this money in two phases. While Rs388 crore would come in the first phase of the project, the balance Rs328 crore would be provided by the Government of India in the second phase”
  • … six-laning of NH-5 (A), building a greenfield coastal corridor, construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip and upgradation of port infrastructure.
  • The six-laning of the NH-5 (A) will be taken up in the second phase of the PCPIR project at a cost of Rs76 crore. The greenfield coastal corridor will involve an expenditure of Rs410 crore out of which Rs 264 will be invested in the first phase while the remaining expenditure of Rs146 crore will be incurred in Phase-II.

  • The construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip will be taken up at a cost of Rs190 crore while Rs40 crore would be provided by the Centre for upgradation of port infrastructure.

  • Meanwhile, the Orissa government has committed an expenditure of Rs1796 crore on infrastructure development for the PCPIR hub. Out of the envisaged expenditure of Rs1796 crore, Rs 754 crore will be spent on development of arterial roads, Rs 465 crore on water supply, Rs 410 crore on power distribution and Rs136 crore on canal upgradation.


To match these industrial investments in Paradip, the Odisha government needs to make plans for a university, an engineering college and a medical college for this area. Similar plans need to made for the other upcoming industrial hubs at Angul,  Kalinganagar, Jharsuguda and Rayagada; as well as the only existing industrial area of Rourkela which neither has a medical college nor has a regular university.

JSPL plans a 5500 crore industrial park at Parang, 10 kms from Angul on the Angul-Chhendipada Road

Angul, Anugul- Talcher - Saranga- Nalconagar, Industrial Parks, Jindal, Steel, Steel ancilaries, Vocational education Comments Off on JSPL plans a 5500 crore industrial park at Parang, 10 kms from Angul on the Angul-Chhendipada Road

Following is  from a report in Telegraph.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), which is setting up a six million-tonne steel plant here, has proposed to the state government to set up an industrial park at Parang.

… “The park, with an investment of Rs 5,500 crore, will provide employment to about 30,000 people, directly and indirectly, and would go a long way for economic empowerment of the state,” he said, adding that the park was also likely to generate about Rs 636 crore revenue for the state.

“For our steel plant, we require a lot of finished materials such as by-products, semi-products, fabrication units, etc. These could be available from the facilities at the proposed industrial park,” he added.

According to project report, JSPL would spend Rs 500 crore while the remaining Rs 5,000 crore would be raised from the parties who would set up the park. JSPL would provide all sorts of infrastructural facilities including water and power to the units at the park. The site selection has been completed and a pre-feasibility report has been prepared and submitted to the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation Limited (PICOL) by the company in May. The company requires 1,381 acres of land at Parang for the park. Water will be sourced from the Mahanadi river situated at a distance of 65km from the site.

The project report also said that there would be 250 units of 42 different varieties at the park. Inside the industrial park would be a knowledge park where two colleges — National Training Institute and Industrial Training Institute — would be set up.

Update on Hindalco’s plan for Odisha

Aluminium, Bauxite, Birlas, Rayagada, Rayagada- Therubali 2 Comments »

Following is from a report in http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/Metals/7176480/.

India’s Hindalco Industries expects to start up its new alumina refinery in the state of Orissa in September 2011, with commercial sales to begin from December, company sources said Tuesday.

Construction on the 1.5 million mt/year refinery began in 2007, and is about 50% done. Based at Rayagada, it will be managed by wholly owned subsidiary Utkal Alumina International Ltd, which is also establishing two bauxite mines at Rayagada and Kalahandi that are also slated to start up next September. The refinery and mines are about 20 km apart and will be linked by a conveyor belt.

Hindalco will eventually use most of the refinery’s alumina for its own production of aluminum, but there will be surplus output for sale, initially 780,000 mt/year, then dropping to 60,000 mt/year around July 2012 when the second of the group’s two new smelters come online.

The firm has a 360,000 mt/year smelter in the state of Madhya Pradesh that is to be completed in July 2011, followed by another unit of a similar size in Orissa a year later.

In addition, plans are underway to double the alumina refining capacity in Orissa to 3 million mt/year by 2014, by which time Hindalco is expected to sell about 50% of the new output.

The alumina expansion will be complemented with further aluminum capacity increases although details have not been announced. The group is also planning to raise its bauxite output at Orissa by 4 million mt/year to 8.5 million mt/year along with the refinery expansion.

Vision Kalinganagar : To be developed for a population of 10 lakhs by 2025

Ferro-chrome, Industrial Parks, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Kalinganagar corridors, Steel, Tatas Comments Off on Vision Kalinganagar : To be developed for a population of 10 lakhs by 2025

Following is from the page http://kalinganagar.tatasteel.com/kalinganagar/vision-kalinganagar.asp.

Kalinganagar Industrial Area is projected to be developed for a population of over 10 lakh by 2025 and it will be extended to 177 square kilometers as envisaged by the State Government. In this connection, Lea Associates of South Asia in association with the School of Planning and Architect, New Delhi and the Centre for Environment and Planning (CEPT) presented a vision document to the Chief Minister for the development of Kalinganagar Industrial Area.

The Kalinganagar Industrial complex in Odisha has been a true realisation of the socio-economic dream that would lead the State into a new era of prosperity. Made possible through dedicated efforts of the State Government over several years, the complex is slated to contribute to the net GDP of Odisha and provide its people with sustained employment and other forms of gainful engagement in the upcoming projects and their ancillaries.



After the success of Asia’s first integrated steel plant set up by Tata Steel in the undivided Orissa-Bihar-Bengal in 1907, or the employment potential revealed by the Rourkela Steel Plant (operated by the state-owned Steel Authority of India), the demand for another mega steel plant in Odisha was strongly felt. This led Biju Patnaik, the then Chief Minister of Odisha to plan the Kalinganagar industrial complex, once 13000 acres of land was acquired in the Sukinda constituency of Jajpur district in 1992.



Today, the Government is stepping up the presence of industry as co-incidentally, the infrastructural boom in the global markets has generated high demands for steel. To strengthen the century old relationship between Odisha and Tata Steel, the Company signed the MoU for its most ambitious steel project in Odisha on November 17, 2004. As per this MoU, the Company will set up a six million ton green-field integrated Steel Plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur District of Odisha. 



The other industrial projects in various stages of completion at the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex are M/s Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., M/s Mid-East, M/s Jindal Stainless Steel Limited, M/s VISA Steel Ltd., M/s KJ Industries, M/s Maithon Alloys Ltd., M/s Rohit Ferro Tech, M/s Dinabandhu Steel, M/s Uttam Galva Ltd., etc.

Professor Sumit Ganguly on the Vedanta decision by Ramesh

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, ENVIRONMENT, EXPOSING ANTI-ODISHA-GROWTH SCHEMES, Kalahandi, Vedanta 6 Comments »

Following is from http://the-diplomat.com/indian-decade/2010/08/29/orissa’s-pyrrhic-victory/.

… Some commentators in the Indian press with a strong anti-corporate orientation, meanwhile, are also gleeful that the project has come to a halt.

Ostensibly, this delight stems from having stopped a greedy multinational corporation from ruthlessly exploiting the natural resources of a remote part of the country and the traditional homelands of some of India’s adivasi (original), tribal population.

Yet despite the delight of these disparate groups with the decision, a more sober and dispassionate analysis suggests that the ultimate losers may well be the hapless tribal population who are the inhabitants of this region.

Generations of governments, despite loud promises, have done woefully little to improve their lot. The region lacks adequate roads, has few public clinics, limited educational facilities and an appalling lack of employment opportunities. Consequently, the locals remain mired in harsh and abject poverty.

The mining investment might not have been a panacea for their many woes. However, it did offer the promise of new schools, better roads, the opening of hospitals and above all the prospects of better-paid work. With the seemingly sagacious decision, none of those possibilities will materialize despite the rather facile promise from a popular Congress member of parliament, Rahul Gandhi, that he would act as the ‘sipahi’ (guard) of their interests in New Delhi.

What is being portrayed as a great victory of environmentalism is sadly little more than a crass effort to win the votes of the tribal population in a desperately underdeveloped state. The Indian state that has long failed to protect and improve the plight of the country’s tribal population needs to do far better than what transpired this week. More to the point, romantic environmentalists and their cheerleaders in the press should think about how they are becoming unwittingly complicit in the Congress’ Party’s feckless quest for votes.

His short bio from the same page:

Ganguly is the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations and a Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. Ganguly is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of twenty books on South Asia and serves on the editorial boards of Asian Affairs, Asian Survey and Current History among others.

Varied coverage on Vedanta and Jairam Ramesh’s high-handedness

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, CENTER & ODISHA, ENVIRONMENT, EXPOSING ANTI-ODISHA-GROWTH SCHEMES, Kalahandi, Vedanta Comments Off on Varied coverage on Vedanta and Jairam Ramesh’s high-handedness

Earlier the media thought that the underdogs were the locals and tribal and the valiant NGOs fighting for them against the big monster Vedanta. So all the stories (except direct publishing of Vedanta press releases which they had to do once in while to keep getting Vedanta’s ads) were from the angle of how mining in Niyamgiri would destroy the way of life of the tribals. How Vedanta did this mistake or that mistake which was magnified and circulated by the NGOs. No body outside of the government and Vedanta dared to defend the mining aspects as they were afraid of being labeled as bought outs, being bribed, or just monsters who do not care about poor people and tribals.

But now it seems Jairam Ramesh has behaved in such a high handed and partisan manner that slowly the media is discovering the other side of the story; which they mostly ignored earlier.

Here are some of the coverages.

1. From http://ibnlive.in.com/news/volteface-vedantas-opposer-turns-soft/129818-3.html.

In a shocking volte-face, the most vocal tribal voice against the Vedanta project in Niyamgiri hills of Orissa, is now its brand ambassador – Jitu Jakesika is now trying to convince tribals on the benefits of the mining project. Twenty-two-year-old Jitu Jakesika belonging to the Dongoria tribe of Orissa had come out in fierce opposition against the Vedanta mining project in 2008, when Rahul Gandhi had first visited Langigarh. He’s now crossed the line and is espousing the Vedanta cause.

"The NGOs and the political parties used to come to us and tell us that Vedanta would blast at Niyamgiri hills to extract bauxite and thus our livelihood and culture would be destroyed. I was convinced by their theory though I was educated. Later, I realised that this mining project will not have a detrimental effect on our livelihood and culture in any way. It would rather usher in development in our area." In 2009 Jitu was sponsored by Vedanta to study business administration in Bhubaneswar. His views have changed since. Jitu’s critics allege bribery and corruption. But he is unfazed.

"Our tribal people worship at the Niyamdanga hills not at the adjoining Niyamgiri hills as is being propagated by the NGOs. So where is the question of our worship place being destroyed coming from? We tribals worship mostly in our houses," insists Jitu.

Vedanta had also sponsored a visit of the tribals to NALCO’s bauxite mining site in Koraput, gaining some supporters for the mining project in the process. Now, Jitu has intentions of visiting Delhi soon to meet Rahul Gandhi and the prime minister and convey to them that all tribals in his community are not against the Vedanta project. However, whether Jitu’s contrarian voice would be heard or not isn’t clear yet.

We earlier mentioned Jitu in our article http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3762.

2. From a rediff article by Nilmadhab Mohanty.

 

First, the manner and time-line followed in the decision-making. The Orissa state government seems to have applied for final clearance in August 2009.

The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has been deliberating the proposal at least since November 2009. In addition to the information submitted by the State and the central government’s own agencies, it had the benefit of the recommendations made by a three-member expert group which submitted its report in February 2010.

FAC then asks for yet another committee under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which is the nodal agency in the central government for tribal rights. The environment minister, however, appoints his own committee (the Saxena Committee) in the last week of June 2010.

Then the pace quickens: The environment minister writes to the law ministry on July 19 to obtain the Attorney General’s opinion if the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) apply its mind and decide in the light of the Supreme Court’s earlier decision giving forest clearance.

 

The AG replies promptly on the following day; Saxena submits report on August 16, FAC deliberates without much loss of time and submits recommendations on August 23, and the minister announces his decision with a 20-page reasoned order on August 24, 2010!

The must be a record in governmental working! The affected party, namely the Orissa government, is hardly given any chance to given an explanation to the MoEF.

In fact, the hapless Orissa officials seem to have met the minister on August 24 when he was in a tearing hurry to announce his decision!

 

The highhandedness I refer to is that fact that Ranesh did not give much of a chance to hear the Odisha government’s response to the Saxena committee report. He seems to have already made up his mind. So much so that Rahul Gandhi’s trip to Kalahandi was already announced on August 21st, while CM Naveen Patnaik met PM Manmohan Singh and Jairam ramesh on August  23rd and Jairam Ramesh met the Odisha government officials on August 24th. 

No one will believe that Rahul Gandhi made the decision to visit Kalahandi without knowing what Ramesh’s decision would be. Ramesh’s scant regard for what Odisha has to say on the issue shows his highhandedness. His informing Rahul Gandhi about the decision before even the report was submitted by FAC on August 23 shows that the government in Delhi is not a democratic government but a fiefdom of the Gandhi’s.

There are many more disturbing questions raised by the rediff article by Nilmadhab Mohanty.

3. The article by Saubhik Chakrabarti in Indian Express raises many other questions.

4. The blog entry at http://www.hindustantimes.com/7-questions-on-Vedanta-Niyamgiri-and-economic-development/Article1-593564.aspx

5. Tavleen Singh in Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/politics-pollutes-the-environment/673939/0

6. Indian Express Editorial: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/whose-agitation/673470/0

7. B G Verghese in Business Standard: http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/sep/06/slide-show-1-was-it-right-to-stop-vedanta.htm

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/b-g-verghese-stop-vedanta-stop-india/406911/

See also his op-ed in Expressbuzz.com.

Saubhik Chakrabarti gives a nuanced picture of Lanjigarh in Indian Express

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, CENTER & ODISHA, ENVIRONMENT, EXPOSING ANTI-ODISHA-GROWTH SCHEMES, Kalahandi, New Indian Express, Indian Express, Financial express, Vedanta 2 Comments »

Following is from his article in http://www.indianexpress.com/news/orissas-unobtainium/673845/0

…Niyamgiri, or Niyamgiri hill range—more than 100 hills; 250 square km approximate area—justifies the use of a few cliches. Lush. Verdant. Breathtakingly beautiful in clear, early morning light. The abundance of flora is easily evident (fauna, of course, is not easily spotted, but there are indisputable authoritative declarations on its abundance). Dense clusters of fruit-bearing trees on the slopes can pleasingly unnerve a typical city type. Niyamgiri mangoes are going for Rs 5 a kg or even less at small local markets. Medicinal plants that grow on the hill slopes, say locals, can cure severe wounds. A long trip to the indifferent care of the public heath centre is not required. So, yes, you can think ‘unspoilt’. Many members of the local tribal population—Dongria Kondh, who live on the upper slopes of Niyamgiri and the Kutia Khond, who live near the foothills—were bussed in for Rahul Gandhi’s rally on Thursday, and many of them were clearly happy that mining in Niyamgiri is now stalled.  …

There are plot twists. Seven twists, in fact.

1. A question on local tribal custom.

2. The nuanced answer to the question, what do tribal groups want?

3. How the private investor in Niyamgiri is a bad advertisement for private investment.

4. Where’s the ruling party in Niyamgiri politics?

5. Can we assume a tribal arcadia?

6. Could Niyamgiri have become a laboratory of intelligent mining?

7. Can Orissa afford the Niyamgiri decision?

First twist: That the tribes are protected groups, under Schedule V of the Constitution, that wildlife protection rules apply to much of the area, that the ecosystem is something special are all undisputed facts. That tribal groups have always associated their deity with the hilltop is also supposed to be undisputed. But if you ask around persistently, you don’t get a clear answer. Some locals, otherwise unimpressed with Vedanta’s development efforts, say the hilltop becoming ‘sacred’ is a recent change. Many others dispute this. And this lack of local consensus on what should be widely known local tribal tradition is important because bauxite in Niyamgiri resides on the hilltop—that’s where the mining was to happen before the Central environment ministry denied Orissa Mining Corporation a clearance. This part of the story is more complicated than the usual anti-mining narrative suggests.

Second twist: What are the tribal groups opposing? They are opposing mining on the hilltop. But are they opposing the building of social and physical infrastructure in an area that’s staggeringly underdeveloped even by Indian standards? The answer’s no, and that might seem obvious. But its implications are not obvious. No one denies that successive state governments, Congress or BJD, have been worse than negligent in terms of building social/physical infrastructure. Niyamgiri is in Kalahandi, which is part of the infamous KBK (Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi) group of districts: extreme underdevelopment is the KBK signature. KBK districts account for 72 per cent of Orissa’s below the poverty line population. Of the 82 very backward blocks in Orissa, 53 are in KBK. KBK literacy rate is an abysmal 43.3 per cent, while Orissa’s state-wise average is 63.08 per cent. These are all figures (source: 2002 Orissa BPL Census) that tell a dreadfully grim story. And everyone in the Niyamgiri battle, whichever side they are on, agrees.

Siddharth Nayak, leader of Green Kalahandi, a local activist group that counts among its supporters Vandana Shiva, Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy, said lack of minimum and halfway reasonable quality infrastructure is a big problem. He also said Vedanta Aluminum Ltd (VAL) hasn’t developed as much infrastructure as promised. This is a complaint made by many locals, tribal or otherwise. But if there’s no Vedanta, or no mining, no trigger effect from private investment, who will develop infrastructure, build schools, hospitals, roads? To say that the state administration should do it seems a bit of a cruel joke given decades of history. And especially because local infrastructure is linked to local economic vitality.

There’s no convenient railhead for Kalahandi, a brutal reminder of the district’s lack of minimum economic heft. Apart from agriculture in tiny holdings and forest produce, the latter, consumed and sold locally, and therefore offering no multiplier effects, Kalahandi has little to offer, except a king’s ransom in minerals. Eco-tourism on hills like Niyamgiri is the local activists’ favourite solution to act as a development trigger. But will eco-tourism concentrating on the lush hill ranges bring in the kind of investment that large-scale industrial activity can? And minus the large-scale investment, can enough jobs and enough infrastructure be created? Locals loudly complain that Vedanta doesn’t employ enough of them, that its school—DAV Vedanta School, an impressively well-appointed facility—doesn’t enroll enough tribal/non-tribal children. Vedanta officials deny this. But the fact of these complaints says something: that there was and is a strong expectation, from tribal and non-tribal locals, that big private investment can have beneficial effects. If we assume Vedanta’s corporate social responsibility hasn’t been up to the mark, then the question, from locals’ point of view, is one of more locally engaged private investors, not solely of the absolute villainy of private investors. But the villainy is what the simple narrative of Niyamgiri highlights.

The more nuanced telling of this story comes from the likes of Raju Sahu who came from Bihar to Kalahandi 10 years ago and runs four tea/food stalls on the state highway that links Lanjigarh—where Niyamgiri and the Vedanta factory are situated—to Bhawanipatna, the district HQ. Sahu says his business has more than trebled since Vedanta started operating from here about four years ago. But he complains: what will happen if operations shut down, and why isn’t the state highway in a better condition; his business would be even better then. All along the road and right up to the site of Rahul Gandhi’s rally, tiny businesses run by locals talk of a quantum jump in sales and brood about it all ending. They, too, are locals, and the Niyamgiri story and the Kalahandi story can’t be delinked from what they represent: the possibility of local economy regeneration.

Third twist: Vedanta hasn’t made it easy for themselves or for the cause of private investment. This is apparent even if one sets aside questions about how Vedanta set up its bauxite refinery, how it increased the capacity and the sources of its current bauxite.

Vedanta officials offer you stacks of folders on CSR activities. But local complaints on Vedanta’s less-than-stellar efforts are universal. Lanjigarh or the wider area surrounding it doesn’t even look like a company town, as habitations surrounding big industrial projects often do. The bauxite to aluminum business gives very high returns. Those kind of margins sharpen the question of effective spending for local development.

Also, the company faces several allegations of what activists call its “reliance” on strong-arm methods. A recent case, much mentioned by activists and Congress leaders, is that of the police picking up Lado Sikaka, a Dongria Kondh, and later releasing him. Sikaka says he was brutally roughed up and was almost “kidnapped” because, as he alleges, he’s a prominent anti-mine activist. The local police say picking him up was an error. Vedanta says it doesn’t support any strong-arm methods. But perceptionally, the company seems to have lost this battle.

The state highway mentioned earlier is a good example of bad optics. Vedanta’s 16 tonne carriers, which weigh 33 tonnes when packed with aluminum oxide produced in the plant, trundle down this road every day, 30 trips a day on average. The road shows the toll of this traffic. Local administration officials admit the state highway, never top quality in the first place, is in increasing state of disrepair. They talk about charging more toll from the carriers and rebuilding the road. But, strangely, Vedanta hasn’t helped in making this road better. The company’s response to this highlights the local administration’s responsibility, while adding that it has built roads elsewhere. But this is literally the road to the project. It was entirely appropriate therefore to see, on this road, a shabbily painted Vedanta signboard, hanging askew, with a Rahul Gandhi poster pasted smack in the middle of the board. That pretty much tells you the story of Vedanta’s big PR problem in Lanjigarh.

Another aspect of the same problem is how Niyamgiri was planned to be mined. The Orissa Mining Corporation and Sterlite (Vedanta’s sister concern) formed a joint venture, the Southwest Orissa Bauxite Mining. Sterlite has 74 per cent shareholding. This JV was supposed to act for OMC in choosing and monitoring mining on the Niyamgiri hilltop. But given that the controversy on Niyamgiri mining was brewing for two years, was this arrangement—essentially Sterlite in charge of ensuring good mining practices for bauxite that’s needed by its sister concern Vedanta —the smartest? Vedanta officials say Sterlite’s experience makes it ideal for the purpose. But they don’t have a good answer to the question whether this is credible in a charged atmosphere. Knowledgeable local activists keep making this point, with some justice.

Fourth twist: The absence of enough competition in local politics. The Congress is front and square in the Niyamgiri agitation, delighted now by its ‘victory’. But where is the BJD, Orissa’s ruling party? The line between activists and the Congress is muddled enough for the local Congress MP, Bhakt Charan Das, to have been a past head of Green Kalahandi. But the BJD is so politically ineffective here that bandh calls on Wednesday and Thursday were comprehensively ignored. The BJD’s local weakness may seem surprising for a party that has won three state elections, and whose chief minister, Navin Patnaik, has made a determined effort to appear tribal-friendly. The explanation lies in the vagaries of alliance politics. When the BJD and the BJP became allies, Kalahandi was given to the BJP to build a base. The alliance broke up on the eve of the 2009 assembly elections. So, the BJD essentially had a late start in Kalahandi. That political weakness has resulted in giving the local Congress, which was always strong in Kalahandi, a headstart in political mobilisation on Niyamgiri. Had the BJD been stronger, had it been in a position to work among local tribal groups, the contest would have been more even. Local BJD officials admit this privately.

The Niyamgiri story is not just about activists and tribal groups, it’s also about the Congress getting an unusually clear political field. There are no credible local politicians to speak for the mining project. The sharp irony here is that Patnaik is also the forest minister, who has publicly led the campaign for tribal land rights, but the Niyamgiri mining proposal has been deemed dramatically violative of forest rights. There’s no local BJD counter-point to this.

Fifth twist: Tribal arcadia? Yes, Niyamgiri provides plenty of natural resources. Yes, the hill inhabitants don’t get affected by the droughts that are so common to Kalahandi. Yes, rank starvation is not a feature in Niyamgiri. But the tribal groups still operate in what is a subsistence economy, and they don’t have access to basic facilities in education or health. Tribal groups seems more aware of this than those romanticising the Niyamgiri way of life. Which is why local tribals complain about not getting jobs or education for their children. Which is also why Sitaram Raju, an 18-year-old security guard at the under-construction Vedanta co-funded mid-day meal cooking centre in Lanjigarh, has these stories about several inquiries from local tribal people on when the centre will start operating?

Our children will get eggs and good rice, local tribal people said when asked about the mid-day meal centre. There’s desperation for wanting something more than what they have in that wish. Raju, from Sambalpur in Orissa, earns Rs 4,200 a month. That’s a handsome salary in comparison to local average incomes. And Raju got the job because private security agencies have come in numbers since Vedanta started building sites. A local young tribal—he said he’s “eight class pass”—when asked whether he would like a job that pays what Raju gets, looked at his interlocutor as if the latter was an idiot. Of course, he said. But there are no jobs.

The hazards of romanticising tribal ways of life are colourfully exemplified by Kalahandi’s self-proclaimed “most important communist”. …

Sixth twist: Could Niyamgiri have become an ideal laboratory for good mining? Some Niyamgiri stats bear mention. There are around 8,500 tribal people in the 250 sq. km. hill area. That low population density makes industrial activity easier to handle in terms of fallout. The proposed mining area was four square km: a very small part of the hills. There’s seemingly irreconcilable debate about whether the bauxite-rich hilltop is green-friendly or not. The pro-mining view says trees don’t grow on bauxite-rich hilltops because the mineral doesn’t retain water. Post-mining, when the bauxite reserve is exhausted, the hilltop can, this view says, be made green-friendly. The example given is Nalco’s greening of the hilltop in the Koraput mine; Koraput is a neighbouring district. The anti-mining view says bauxite is porous and it therefore allows water to filter down and that keeps the hills lush. Establishing the real position objectively seems a lost cause in Niyamgiri. The talk is only about Vedanta’s violations and keeping mining away forever. Vedanta may well have violated legal norms, as the environment ministry says. And definitely, the Vedanta-OMC arrangement on mining Niyamgiri, as explained earlier, doesn’t pass muster in terms of a conflict of interest test. But sustained talk of huge ecological devastation, as the Saxena report for example talks about, has killed intelligent discussion on whether Niyamgiri could have been intelligently mined, under proper supervision. Also, bauxite mining, because the hilltop deposits are shallow, rarely needs blasting, the most disruptive of mining activities.

There’s something odd about the Central approach to ecological impact of the proposed Niyamgiri mining. Niyamgiri had received environmental clearance in October 2007. This okay comes after impact assessment studies under the Environment Protection Act. The Saxena report, which was submitted with a speed rare in government—formed in late June this year, the report was submitted on August 16—spends pages on ecological impact. But what does this mean? That the Centre was unaware since 2007, when the EPA clearance was given, that Niyamgiri mining would be environmentally harmful, and that the dangers were discovered only after a two-month study by the Saxena committee?

The seventh and the biggest twist: Can bauxite be mined in Kalahandhi, which has a huge reserve of the mineral? The Central environment ministry says the denial of mining rights is based on rules violation, in particular violation of forest rights under Forest Rights Act. This seems to imply that had Vedanta played by the book as per the ministry’s assessment, clearance would have come. But the Saxena report also puts emphasis on tribal groups’ livelihood traditions and on potential ecological damages. On the ground in Kalahandhi, it’s these two that are being highlighted. Local Congress leaders and activists talk of attempts at stealing away tribal land. If the Centre reckons that subsequent applications for mining hilltop bauxite can be measured only against legal benchmarks, it is probably making a mistake.

Kalahandi is a scheduled area, with heavy tribal presence. Tribal habitations are typically in the area’s hills. The hilltops have bauxite. The ‘victory’ in Niyamgiri has fired up activists and the Congress. Not all tribes who live in other bauxite-rich hills have the heavily protected legal status enjoyed by the Kondhs of Niyamgiri. But, as Nayak said, every mining application will now be met with movements about tribal rights. He reckons Niyamgiri has created a precedent that’s too strong to be ignored. This is good from the activists’ point of view, or for Orissa Congress’s political calculations, but it’s hardly good news for Kalahandi and Orissa.

This is the real big potential fallout of Niyamgiri: it can create more Niyamgiris. 

Following are some of my comments: 

  •  Earlier, we also made the point regarding how sacred the hill-top was. In India, both tribals as well as Hindus have many things that they pray. Often many people make temples to usurp government land.  So the lack of consensus regarding the hilltop being sacred and even people who are unimpressed with Vedanta suggesting that the "hilltop being sacred" is a recent change points finger at the activists being behind hyping up the sacred aspect of the hill top.
  • On Vedanta not having developed infrastructure: The various reports say that with importing bauxite from outside the company was not making profit, so based on short-term economics it did not spend enough in developing infrastructure. But that was short-sighted action from the company.
  • The author makes a nice point that the local and tribals do want jobs, schools etc.  and  were not opposed to development per se.
  • Vedanta’s trucks are directly responsible for the deterioration of those roads. They should have spent money on those roads and made them better.
  • BJD has a unique opportunity now to counter congress and shore up its base. It should immediately announce and start a state university in Kalahandi; it should take over the half-constructed medical college and make it a government medical college; and it should augment the agricultural college. Being in power in the state, it can do that. It can then go to the people and say: "See Congress is against development. But we are not going to let their anti-development stance hurt the people of Kalahandi. We will do our best to bring development to Kalhandi." (Hopefully Congress will then counter this with some kind of a central institution there.)

My final thought is why did not Saubhik Chakrabarti write such an article before. In the past the only views on Lanjigarh mining that would come out is that of the activists and the press releases by Vedanta. Both were one-sided. So the Indian media is partly responsible for the negative effects of Ramesh’s activism. If only they had given nuanced views like the above before Ramesh made the decision then Ramesh may have made a more nuanced decision.

Politics behind Lanjigarh becoming clearer?

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, CENTER & ODISHA, ENVIRONMENT, Kalahandi, Mine related pollution, Vedanta 1 Comment »

1. MP of Kalahandi, Bhakta Das, who in recent years has been vociferous against mining by Vedanta once was desperate to have an alumina plant in Lanjigarh. Following is from a report in Hindu.

Today, he is known as a champion of tribal rights and a leader in the fight against Vedanta’s proposal to mine bauxite in Niyamgiri. But 14 years ago, Bhakta Charan Das, Congress MP from Kalahandi sang a different tune. “The Government of India and the Orissa government should take keen interest to set up at least a large alumina plant because we have got a heavy deposit of bauxite in Niyamgiri and Sijimalli of the Kalahandi district,” he had said during a November 1996 debate in the Lok Sabha on the drought situation in Orissa. “If there is an alumina plant, then a minimum of 40,000 people can sustain out of the different kinds of earnings from that.”

When asked about his statements on Thursday, Mr. Das initially insisted that he had only recommended mining in Sijimalli and not Niyamgiri. When faced with the Lok Sabha record, the MP, also the founder of the Green Kalahandi movement, admitted that he had learnt a lot since that day one-and-a-half decades ago.

“I had not visited Niyamgiri then. I did not know of the Dongria Kondh links to that place then. At that point, I did not know it was a densely forested area,” he said, speaking to The-Hindu over telephone immediately after the mass rally was held by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Niyamgiri area.

“Of course, the Kalahandi district needs more industries, but it should not be development at the cost of the people, at the cost of the forests,” Mr. Das said, adding that the Vedanta project had failed to generate sufficient local jobs, or provide health and education facilities. “I will still be happy to support an industry that takes into account the views of the local people, that will ensure the future of all stakeholders, that follows all the laws…There can be other mines, but why don’t they go and find an abandoned mountain, instead of Niyamgiri?”

Note that the government of Odisha (a Congress government led by Janaki Patnaik) signed the first MOU with Vedanta for mining in Lanjigarh in 1997, exactly 13 years ago, a year after the above statement by Bhakta Das.

2. Bhakta Das as well as the Youth Congress Chief of Odisha, Pradeep Majhi (MP Nabarangpur) are not against mining for bauxite. They just don’t want it now in Lanjigarh. Following is from a report in Orissadiary.

Orissa Pradesh Youth Congress chief, Nabrangpur MP Pradeep Majhi on Thursday said Vedanta can look for alternative sites except Niyamgiri from where it can mine bauxite to feed its one- million- tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.

He suggests alternative sites—Kuturmali, Bijimali and Sabarmali hills which are in the periphery of Niyamgiri and there are no habitation of tribals in this region. He said The Congress party is not against industrialization. There are many other hills where there are no tribals and that can be used by Vedanta which are only 8 kms from Niyamgiri. But it is clear that no mining would be allowed at Niyamgiri.

3. Not wanting in Lanjigarh and some other place is fine depending on how sacred that mountain is to the local adivasis. But did the activists hyped up the sacredness to stop the project? I have no idea. But the following excerpt from a report in Telegraph seems to suggest that way.

Regarding industrialisation and its effects on Niyamgiri, Jakesia said: “I realised that for bauxite excavation, only the surface level of the rock is used.

This is unlike iron ore and coal mining, where one has to go below the surface. Thus, the process is fairly smooth. You will be surprised to know that puja offered to Niyam Raja was never performed there. Now, after the spread of awareness, the puja is performed on top of the hill.”

4. In http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3944 we mentioned several disturbing questions raised by Nilmadhab Mohanty (a senior Fellow, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi) on how the government went about this. The following excerpt from an article in Economic Times raises additional disturbing questions.

On August 24, the Central government said that Vedanta Aluminium had not sought prior approval for expanding the refinery capacity to 6 million tonnes from 1 million tonnes. Another government decision that day, announced by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, stopping plans to mine bauxite at Nyamgiri near Lanjigarh, attracted much more attention but the brake on the refinery expansion could have a longer term impact on the fortunes of Vedanta. The bauxite was to be supplied to the refinery.

The chief operating officer of the Anil Agarwal-controlled company, Mukesh Kumar, expressed his doubts on Thursday over the “intention” behind these announcements in view of an earlier notification.

The ministry of environment and forests had said on August 19 that for all projects which were increasing capacity and where terms of references—the guidelines and scope for any expansion—have been mentioned and where construction activities have been started, the terms of references may be suspended or withdrawn.

"Instances have come to the notice of this ministry where project proponents have undertaken construction activities without obtaining requisite environmental clearance…No activity relating to any project covered under this notification, including civil construction, can be undertaken at site without obtaining prior environmental clearance," the notification added.

The notification relates to environment impact assessment (EIA)— a crucial part of the project approval process under the Environment Protection Act. The EPA is the umbrella legislation that regulates the impact of all industrial and commercial activities on environment.

The Vedanta official said that no prior approval for expansion was needed according to the rules in place—the Environment Impact Assessment notification of 2006—before the changes announced on August 19.

"There is no threshold limit given in the EIA notification for such a project," Mr Kumar told ET. "Hence prior environment clearance, as per the notification for our proposed expansion, is not mandatory before undertaking any construction activities."

Mr Kumar also referred to a section in the 2006 notification which stipulates that approval to the terms of reference for any project has to be announced within 60 days from the date of submission. "If the decision is not conveyed within 60 days, then the terms of references suggested by the applicant, "shall be deemed as final terms for the EIA study."

Vedanta had submitted its proposal for expanding the capacity to the ministry of environment and forests for approval on October 3, 2007. The company didn’t get approval within 60 days, which is the mandatory period as per the notification.

Mr Ramesh did not respond to calls and text messages sent to his mobile.

We will add more things as they come out. 


Regardless of all of the above, my current view is that stopping Vedanta mining in Lanjigarh, although done in a very partisan and high handed way, was a high profile example to make the point that environment and forest rights need to be taken seriously, to send a message to the maoists that the UPA-2 government (mainly Congress) will protect tribals, and to send a message to the tribals that they can rely on the government.

While a government should treat everyone equally and follow the law and not make one-time examples, the motivation here makes some sense on the ground of greater good of the country that currently faces the maoist menace who reportedly use mining and miners in their recruiting plays.

As I finish writing this, I read an article in Indian Express, that points out many additional interesting issues.

How Ramesh went about rejecting the environment clearance to Vedanta Resources? What are the violations he claims that occured?

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Business Standard, ENVIRONMENT, Kalahandi, Odisha govt. action, Odisha govt. Inaction, Vedanta 2 Comments »

Although there are tons of newsreports on the Saxena Committee report on Vedanta which quote extensively from the allegations of the committee there is very little (and mostly soundbites) from the perspective of the Odisha government and Vedanta.

The following by Nilmadhab Mohanty (a senior Fellow, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi) is from http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/aug/25/slide-show-1-a-few-disturbing-questions-in-the-vedanta-issue.htm. I am not sure I agree with all the points mentioned below. But it is one of the few articles that is from the other side and hence worth pondering.

The decision of Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh not to grant Stage II forest clearance to the proposal of the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri in Orissa has been welcomed in many circles, in particular by the environmental activists, for the protection it will provide to an ecologically sensitive area of the country and to the Kondh tribes (and Dalits) living in the area.

There are, however a few disturbing questions that need to be answered by the ministry in order to buttress the minister’s claim that the decision was an objective one with no prejudice or politics influencing it.

First, the manner and time-line followed in the decision-making. The Orissa state government seems to have applied for final clearance in August 2009.

The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has been deliberating the proposal at least since November 2009. In addition to the information submitted by the State and the central government’s own agencies, it had the benefit of the recommendations made by a three-member expert group which submitted its report in February 2010.

FAC then asks for yet another committee under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which is the nodal agency in the central government for tribal rights. The environment minister, however, appoints his own committee (the Saxena Committee) in the last week of June 2010.

Then the pace quickens: The environment minister writes to the law ministry on July 19 to obtain the Attorney General’s opinion if the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) apply its mind and decide in the light of the Supreme Court’s earlier decision giving forest clearance.

The AG replies promptly on the following day; Saxena submits report on August 16, FAC deliberates without much loss of time and submits recommendations on August 23, and the minister announces his decision with a 20-page reasoned order on August 24, 2010!

The must be a record in governmental working! The affected party, namely the Orissa government, is hardly given any chance to given an explanation to the MoEF.

In fact, the hapless Orissa officials seem to have met the minister on August 24 when he was in a tearing hurry to announce his decision!

Second, OMC’s proposal for forest clearance for the Niyamgiri bauxite mines is separate and distinct from Vedanta Aluminium Ltd’s (VAL) aluminum refinery project, although bauxite is meant for the refinery. Why have these two cases been mixed up in the minister’s order?

Forest clearance is a statutory requirement under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 and the FAC was deliberating on the subject on the request made by OMC/Orissa government and the minister is within his rights to act on their recommendation.

If VAL violated the conditions of its approval or even the Environment Protection Act, it could have been proceeded against separately.

After all, the MoEF’s eastern regional office had sent its communication reporting violations in May 2010. By combining the two issues the ministry gave the unfortunate impression that it was targetting Vedanta rather than dealing with forest clearance for Niyamgiri mines.

One of the major issues raised by the Saxena Committee and endorsed by the minister is the potential ecological and human costs of the mining project.

In fact, this is an issue which is relevant not so much during forest clearance procedure but more appropriately during the impact assessment study under the Environment Protection Act.

For Niyamgiri both ‘in principle’ forest clearance and environmental clearance had been given. Besides, the ‘in principle’ approval was given in October 2007, a month before the Supreme Court’s order on the subject.

Did the MoEF discover the ecological and human costs only after receiving the Saxena Committee report?

The main thrust of the Saxena Committee report and about the only valid reason for denying final forest clearance for the Niyamgiri mines appears to be the alleged non-recognition of the forest rights of the tribals and absence of consent from the concerned communities for diversion of forest land.

There seem to be a few complications on this issue. For one the Saxena Committee has given very liberal and wide-ranging definitions of ‘forest’ and ‘forest rights’ as per its interpretation of the Forest Rights Act. It is another matter that the interpretation of statutes is a responsibility of the courts, not of a committee appointed by a minister!

The Saxena Committee, for example, defines ‘forest’ to include ‘forest dwellers’ as well as ‘trees and wildlife’, literally overturning the Apex Court’s definition of ‘forest’ in the famous Godavarman case.

It also interprets communal and habitat rights of the primitive tribal groups to extend beyond their areas of residence to cover the entire eco-system.

Since the Forest Rights Act is a new piece of legislation these issues will need to be settled by the courts in due course of time, keeping in view the practicability of implementation.

In any case, the Orissa officials seem to have argued that they had complied with the legal requirements of the legislation (which, by the way, came long after the mining proposal was mooted) to the best of their ability.

Surely, Saxena and the MoEF cannot both be the prosecutor and the judge on this matter!

Also, what about development — both of minerals, which are the nation’s dormant resources, and the tribal groups, who inhabit the area?

 

From the Saxena Committee report (which is silent on this subject), it would appear that Mr Saxena would like them to continue as ‘forest dwellers’ in perpetuity so that they continue to enjoy their ‘forest rights’, living on roots and herbs and we continue showcasing their primitive tribal identity and abject poverty nationally and internationally!

Finally, what happens to the considerable investment that has gone into the industry?

Environmental and forest clearance procedures are about balancing the needs of development with those of conservation. To the extent possible the project proponents, including the state government, should be given an opportunity to correct the deficiencies. (After all it is the state government, not OMC/Sterlite-Vedanta, that has to settle the forest rights).

It is true that in extreme cases permission will have to be denied but that should have been before the start of the refinery when the required clearances were given.

To do so now will be unfair and damaging to the government’s reputation for objectivity.

 

 


Following is from Sreelatha Menon’s article in Business Standard regarding what violations the environment ministry claimed that occurred. 

The Saxena Committee has drawn up a litany of infractions at Niyamgiri by both Vedanta and the Orissa government.

The road leading up to the Centre’s denial of permission to Vedanta Alumina Ltd to mine for bauxite in the Niyamagiri hills of Lanjigarh has been lined with gross violations and misrepresentation by both the company and the state government of Orissa.

The NC Saxena Committee, set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, details the manner in which laws have been flagrantly flouted to facilitate a project that has been aggressively opposed by tribal groups in the area.

The panel’s findings show that the Forest Rights Act, Forest Conservation Act, Environment Protection Act as well as Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, which applies to scheduled tribes covered under Schedule V of the Constitution, have been the main casualties as far as the Vedanta project is concerned.

The alleged breach of laws by the company in collusion with the state government and made possible by the Centre’s neglect resulted in the company obtaining illegal possession of 26 hectares of village forest land without ever obtaining appropriate clearances. It was on the verge of launching mining operations the moment it received forest clearance, jeopardising not only the life and culture of the indigenous tribal groups, which are protected under Schedule V, but also in contempt of a statute expressly designed to empower tribal communities: the Forest Rights Act.

Felling the Forest Rights Act: The most blatant violation, the Saxena panel states, has been that of legislation drawn up specifically to give forest dwellers a voice. It also gives them the authority to agree or not to a project that affects the forests they lived in. In the case of the Vedanta project, the law just did not seem to exist. The state government chose not to consult gram sabhas of the villages or to issue any statement on their response to the Centre.

And in spite of this, 26 hectares of forest land has been in the possession of the company’s refinery and forest clearance for more forest land was pending for the mining project.

How PESA was ignored : According to the Saxena Committee, PESA , there was scant regard for the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas ) when it came to pushing the proposed mining lease for Vedanta. Indeed, the state government blatantly violated it.

This Act requires the authorities to consult elected village bodies such as a panchayat or Gram Sabha before the acquisition of land for any development projects located in tribal territories listed under Schedule V. Authorities also have to consult the Gram Sabha or Panchayat before resettling and rehabilitating those affected by such projects. None of this was done.

Stolen forests: The Saxena report lists several alleged irregularities by Vedanta in Niyamagiri. Occupation of village forest land for the construction of its refinery tops the list. On August 16, 2004, Vedanta Alumina submitted a proposal for the appropriation of 58.943 ha of forest land — 26.123 ha to set up a refinery at Lanjigarh and the remaining for a conveyor belt and a road to the mining site. The forest lands required for the refinery, in a number of small patches, traditionally belonged to the tribal and other communities in neighbouring villages.

However, while filing for environmental clearance on March 19, 2003, the company claimed that no forest land was needed and that there were no reserve forests within 10 km of the proposed refinery. The Saxena Committee says this claim was patently false, since the reserve forests are less than 2 km from the refinery site. Even the factory is located on forest land belonging to the villagers.

The Environment Ministry accorded environmental clearance to the refinery on September 22, 2004, on the basis that the project did not involve appropriation of forest lands. Since this clearance was acquired by submitting false information, it is invalid and should be revoked, the committee headed by Saxena had recommended.

EPA violations: The report also finds the company guilty of violating mandates of the Environment Protection Act (EPA). Environmental impact assessments required under the EPA are inadequate and do not examine the full implications of the refinery and mining project on the environment, particularly those related to hydrology. The report says no effort was made in the Vedanta mining project (and aluminium refinery) to solicit the informed consent of affected villages.

It says “the required number of public hearings’’ were not held and the” Environmental impact assessments, which contain data essential for informed decision-making and consent, were not made available. Even critical information, such as the fact that the project would occupy their village forest lands, was not disclosed.’’

In a 2003 public hearing, no member of the affected Dongaria Kondh tribe was recorded as being present—a basic violation of their right to consultation and informed consent. Besides suffering from the same shortcomings as the 2003 public hearings, a public hearing in 2009 for refinery expansion distorted and reinterpreted the proceedings: the official minutes of the meeting record that the project met with widespread community support, even though only one person out of 27 spoke in favour of the project.

Violator and polluter, too: When the environment ministry granted environmental clearance to the aluminium refinery, it was subject to strict compliance and identified a list of other key conditions for management of waste from the refinery. It also required that the company strictly adhere to the stipulations made by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB).

But in the course of the refinery’s operations between 2006 and 2009, Vedanta Alumina repeatedly failed to adhere to these requirements. Between 2006 and 2009, the OSPCB documented numerous instances whereby the company had failed to put in place adequate pollution control measures to meet not only its own conditions, but also those of the Environment Ministry. OSPCB findings indicate that the company commenced operations without the necessary systems to adequately manage waste and pollution. Some processing and waste management systems were not built or operated in conformity with applicable regulatory requirements.

Expansion without clearance: The most shocking violation on the part of the company has been its six-fold expansion of the refinery without even obtaining clearance from the ministry. It had received sanction to set up a capacity of 1 million tonnes, but it has gone on to expand to 6 million tonnes without any approvals. This was in spite OSPCB strictures to its January 12, 2009 memo, asking the company to immediately cease construction related to expansion of the refinery as it had not obtain the required permissions, including the environmental clearance.

Tribal groups, which have been fighting on behalf of the Dongaria Kondhs, are now finding these violations, especially Vedanta’s illegal possession of 26 hectares of forest land, as the starting point for the second part of their struggle. Says Prafulla Samantara, who petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of the tribals: “The report calls the refinery illegal and it has to go. Our fight will continue until it is shut down.” But Saxena feels that the refinery may continue and get raw material from other mines.

The violations in the case of Vedanta have been documented and accepted by the Centre, with the ministry refusing permission for mining operations in Niyamagiri. Tribal groups ask if this report and the consequences would have any implications on several other projects where similar violations have been raised to deaf ears. Forest Rights Act violations have been alleged against Posco, as well as several other mining projects, but the state and Central governments have so far shown no indication of reviewing them, says Campaign for Survival and Dignity, an umbrella group of tribal rights organisations.

 


 

What’s Rahul Gandhi up to in Odisha?

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, ENVIRONMENT, EXPOSING ANTI-ODISHA-GROWTH SCHEMES, Jagatsinghpur, Kalahandi, POSCO, South Korea, Steel 5 Comments »

Following article titled ” `Rahul hand behind POSCO, Vedanta mess’ – Cong counters BJD charge” is from Times of India Bhubaneswar edition. Thanks to HM for bringing this to our notice and sending it to us.

State High-level Clearance Authority (SHLCA) clears project of 1,00,780 crores

Aluminium, Angul, Anil Agarwal, Anugul- Talcher - Saranga- Nalconagar, Dhenkanal, High Level Committee, Industrial Parks, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Jharsugurha, Kalahandi, Kendrapada, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Rayagada- Therubali, Sonepur, Steel, Thermal, Vedanta 1 Comment »

Following are excerpted from Pioneer reports at here and here.

  • Vedanta Aluminum would enhance its refinery, smelter and power plant capacity with a total investment of `37,440 crore. Vedanta Aluminium company would enhance its production capacity Langigarh unit to six million tonne from existing one million tonne. The company would also enhance its production capacity of Jharsuguda aluminium unit to 1.6 million tonne from existing 0.25 million tonne per annum. Similarly, the company would also increase power generation capacity of its CPP (captive power project) to 1,350 mega watt from existing 675 MW at Jharsuguda.
  • NSL Nagapatnam’s `8,900 crore investment plans in the State. The company would set up a 1320 MW power plant in Angul district at a cost of `6,600 crore, a 5,000-tonne sugar refinery at Paradip with an investment of `800 crore and a textile and spindle mill with 3 lakh spindles at a cost of `1,500 crore at Rayagada.
  • ACC Cement’s `1,850 crore three MTPA cement project along with a 50 MW CPP in Malkangiri district 
  • Bhusan Steel’s `3,000-crore steel park at Meramundali.
  • SPI Ports to set up a 1,320 MW (2 x 660 MW) power plant at Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district at an investment of Rs 6,600 crore.
  • KU Pvt Ltd would invest Rs 7,260 crore to set up a power project with 1320 MW power generating capacity at Thakurpur in Sonepur district.
  • Rohit Ferro Alloys would spend Rs 2500 crore for setting up a 67.5 MW captive power plant at its 0.6 MTPA stainless steel project at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district.
  • Aditya Aluminum to enhance the capacity of its Rayagada alumina refinery to 1.5 MTPA from the present 1 MTPA, and Jharsuguda smelter from 0.26 MTPA to 0.36 MTPA with an total investment of Rs 11,000 crore,
  • Jindal India is proposing to enhance the capacity of its power plant from 1,200 MW to 1,800 MW with a total investment of Rs8, 000 crore.
  • Ind-Bharat is proposing to expand its power project capacity from 700 MW to 1320 MW by adding a 660 MW unit with a total cost of Rs 3300 crore.
  • Kalinga Energy, which is now shifting its site from Babuchaki in Sambalpur to Sodamal in Jharsuguda district has also got green signal to enhance the capacity of its power project from 1000 MW to 1320 MW with a total cost of Rs 6500 crore.

The educated tribal view of Niyamgiri and its mining?

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, EXPOSING ANTI-ODISHA-GROWTH SCHEMES, Kalahandi, Telegraph, Vedanta 2 Comments »

There are tons of news items alleging how mining in the Niyamgiri hills will destroy the way of living of the Dongria Kondh people. Reputed organizations such as Action Aid and Survival International have strongly campaigned against the mining there and have castigated the state government of Odisha and Vedanta Resources for intending to mine Bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills. The following report from Telegraph gives a different viewpoint that one also needs to read and think about.

From the remote Dongria Kondh village in Sakata to the capital’s Aryan School of Management Information and Technology, Jitu Jakesia has come a long way.

The first from the Dongria Kondh tribe to clear the Class X board examination, the firebrand tribal leader from Muniguda block in Jakesia, is now concentrating on his studies.

He believes that without education, the Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) cannot succeed in its mission.

Representing his community before the joint committee of the ministry of environment and forests and ministry of tribal affairs, Jakesia put forward the problems faced by the Dongria community and what should be done to remedy them as per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act.

…“After passing the matriculation examination, I started began attending high school in Muniguda College. I pursued studies in the Arts stream. I completed my graduation from the same college. During my three years in college, I worked as an activist, fighting against industrialisation. I thought that this would make a difference, as I was inspired by NGOs and political parties,” he said.

Jakesia was, however, disillusioned by political parties and voluntary organisations.

“At the end of the day, resources really matter. During my student days, I received no help from voluntary organisation or political party. The members of my family were alcoholics. All these problems forced me to focus on my career as a student and not an activist. I ended up continuing my studies,” he said.

…Regarding industrialisation and its effects on Niyamgiri, Jakesia said: “I realised that for bauxite excavation, only the surface level of the rock is used.

This is unlike iron ore and coal mining, where one has to go below the surface. Thus, the process is fairly smooth. You will be surprised to know that puja offered to Niyam Raja was never performed there. Now, after the spread of awareness, the puja is performed on top of the hill.

He said that there was a time when no one was aware of Niyamgiri.

“If you search on the internet now, you will find thousands of results. The industrial development has given Kalahandi many things. It’s quite visible in the economy and development. So, I do not think development is unnecessary’’ he told The Telegraph.

During submission of his grievances regarding the Forest Rights Act, Jakesia had said: “The revenue officials have made many blunders by marketing forest land as hill land.”

There are many instances where there is no scope for individuals or communities to derive benefits from the Act, as the officials don’t understand the problem.

With so many loopholes, requisite amendments should be made, Jakesia had told the joint committee.

See also the article at http://kalahandia.blogspot.com/2010/07/mining-project-will-bring-development.html and the following youtube video for more on this young man’s views.

The Telegraph article spells the name of the young man incorrectly. His correct name is Jitu Jakasika. If one googles his name one will read many old article where Jitu is fighting against mining. See for example this article at http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/3294 in the pages of Survival International.

Icore groups 5000 crore plan of a 1.8 MTPA steel plant and a cement crushing plan needs only 80 acres

Balasore, Balasore- Chandipur, Cement, Steel 2 Comments »

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Kolkata-based Icore Group with interests in steel making, cement, gems and jewellery apparel and paints, would invest Rs 5,000 crore in Orissa setting up a 1.8 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant and a cement crushing unit with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes per day.

The integrated steel cum cement complex would come up on 80 acres of land at Somanthpur in Balasore district. …

… Initially, Icore will start its steel plant operations with a capacity of 0.36 mtpa at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore and later scale up to 1.8 mtpa. While the cement crushing unit is set to commence operations from December 2010, the steel plant is expected to be operational by March next year.

In contrast Tata Steel is needing 3400 acres to set up a 6 MTPA steel plant in Kalinganagar. Perhaps I am missing something or something is amiss somewhere.

Tata Steel’s progress at Kalinga Nagar: from its facebook page

Cuttack, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Ore pelletisation, Steel, Tatas, Thermal Comments Off on Tata Steel’s progress at Kalinga Nagar: from its facebook page

The face book page is at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/Tatasteelparivar. Following are some updates from that page.

  • July 10, 1:19 AM: Construction at Site – The construction work at the main plant site will start shortly after the rehabilitation and resettlement process is completed. But other construction work to support the main plant like Intake Well, IM Section, Fabrication Yard, Hospital and most importantly the rehabilitation colonies and camps have already started.
  • July 10, 1:22 AM
  • July 12, 12:55 AM: Plant Equipments – Orders worth Rs 6,373 crore for the equipment and civil structures have already been placed. While the equipments like Blast Furnace and Sinter Plant for the steel plant have already been received and stored in the Tata Growth Shop and Agrico at Jamshedpur and Bamnipal, the orders for Steel Melting Shop and Coke Oven have been placed.
  • July 12, 12:58 AM: Civil Structural Work – Orders of more than 1,000 crore for civil structural work has been placed.
  • 12:59 AM: Intake Well – The intake well is located at Marthapur on the bank of river Brahmani, situated about 18 kms from the main plant site. This intake well will supply water to the plant.
  • 1:00 AM: Fabrication Yard – The steel structures required for construction of different shops like steel melting shop, blast furnace etc are being fabricated at the Fabrication Yad at Jodabar. About 2200 MT of steel have already been fabricated at this unit. The members of Tata Steel Paribar after being trained are also working here.
  • 11:42 PM: I M Section – The Company is constructing two covered sheds near Duburi to store the plant and machineries required for the construction of steel plant.
  • 11:44 PM: Hospital – To extend better healthcare facilities to the people in and around Kalinga Nagar, Tata Steel is setting-up a hospital in Gobarghati rehabilitation colony. The hospital building is under construction on a land of 4 acres. When completed this hospital would serve 10,000 families with round-the-clock service, pathology lab and outdoor complex.
  • 11:44 PM: Construction at the rehabilitation and resettlement Colonies – Tata Steel has developed three rehabilitation and resettlement colonies as well as five transit camps at Kalinga Nagar to ensure smooth living of the relocated families.
  • 11:45 PM: Power to the Main Plant Site:- The Steel Plant at Orissa is a complex combination of Steel Processing technologies designed at much larger scale to improve efficiency and therefore have large demand on stability & control on operating areas including the Power generation & Distribution system.
  • 11:45 PM: The plant has been designed with three separate sources to pull in Power and increase the tolerance of the system to handle large Power requirement of Steel Plant and with only GRID source during Construction
  • 11:45 PM: The captive Power plant inside the Kalinganagar plant area fuelled by the By-product gases generated by the steel making process (CPP by Tata Power)
  • 11:46 PM: Orissa Grid from 220 kV New Duburi GSSII Sub Station.
  • 11:46 PM: Captive Coal based Power plant at Naraj Marthapur (CPP by Tata Power)
  • July 13, 5:00 AM: Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS)a non-profit organisation has been trying to bring the displaced tribal communities of Jajpur District in Orissa to the mainstream through their socio-economic development. TSRDS has helped the tribal men and women from the displaced families in health care, safe drinking water, sanitation, women empowerment, livelihood etc.
  • July 14, 2:04 AM: Logistics – The life line of a steel plant is its logistics. It is a well known fact that every single ton of steel production needs transportation of minimum 4 ton of raw material and finished goods. So right from location selection to layout design, logistics plays a vital role in planning a new mega steel plant like the Kalinganagar Steel plant in Jajpur’ Orissa.
  • 2:05 AM: Iron ore, coal (Domestic as well as imported) and imported limestone are the prime inputs for the steel plant. The Iron ore mines and main port of relevance i.e. Dhamra Port, is barely 100 KM from the plant site. For Orissa Steel Project all these sources are connected via rail linkages. Some through existing Indian Rail network and some portion is planned under captive Logistic projects.
  • 2:05 AM:  RITES had been appointed as the consultant to prepare the detail rail plan which consists of (a) The Traffic projection & Capacity calculation for the existing IR network (b) Rail alignment and Take off plan for Tata Steel’s Sidings. (c) Cost estimate of the total Project.
  • 2:06 AM:  Apart from the plant internal rail yards Orissa Project, will require a 25 KM (Route Length) captive rail connection in Mines and a 20 KM (Route length) rail connection for plant connectivity to the nearest serving rail stations (Baghuapal & Jakhapura).
  • 2:06 AM: These have been designed considering the highest operating efficiency level and zero process interruption probability. Railway Board and Zonal railway have finally accepted our comprehensive rail logistic proposal.
  • 2:57 AM: At Integrated Industrial Complex, Kalinga Nagar, Duburi, in the district of Jajpur, in Odisha, a 6 million tonnes integrated steel plant of Tata Steel is proposed to be setup. Setting up the steel plant will necessitate displacement of about 679 families of three villages, namely, Gobaraghati, Chandia and Gadapur. Tata Steel has already started providing state of the art training for the members of the displaced families and would provide employment to one member of each extended family.Tata Steel is building model rehabilitation colonies for the resettlement of the displaced population so as to provide modern basic amenities and improved living conditions.Tata Steel believes that the primary purpose of the business is to improve the quality of life of people. Each of the displaced families will be a part of the ‘Tata Steel Parivar’ which is a committed and structured approach to ensure a better quality of life for the displaced families through focused interventions.
  • July 15:  Apart from the plant internal rail yards Orissa Project, will require a 25 KM (Route Length) captive rail connection in Mines and a 20 KM (Route length) rail connection for plant connectivity to the nearest serving rail stations (Baghuapal & Jakhapura).
  • These have been designed considering the highest operating efficiency level and zero process interruption probability. Railway Board and Zonal railway have finally accepted our comprehensive rail logistic proposal.
  • Although the bulk of the Material movement for an operating steel plant is done via rail transport for all the external movement and through conveyor system for in-plant movements.
  • But road transport also plays a vital role in the operating logistics of a steel plant, due to the fact that, there is no economical means of transporting a wide variety of materials required for or generated from the operation of process plants, which needs transportation in small quantity for a short distance.
  • In addition, a significant portion of the finished goods movement is required to be transported by road vehicles only.
  • But Unlike Jamshedpur, fortunately Kalinganagar industrial area is well-connected by road. Our Plant site is flanked by Daitari- Paradip express way which got converted to NH-200 recently and on the eastern side, the state highway connects the Sukinda Mines, to our plant site.
  • A road transport planning for a steel plant includes building roadways and plant roads , parking stations, maintenance facilities, service roads, a transport circulation plan and a scientific traffic projection. All these have been done with the help of a professional organization.

JSPL has plans for 1 lakh crore investment in Odisha including an engineering college and a power training institute

Angul, Anugul- Talcher - Saranga- Nalconagar, Business Standard, Coal, Coal to diesel, Engineering and MCA Colleges, Gasification (from Coal), Jindal, Steel Comments Off on JSPL has plans for 1 lakh crore investment in Odisha including an engineering college and a power training institute

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… "After completing the official procedures, we will sign an MoU for the CTL project involving an investment of Rs 42,000 crore," JSPL Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Naveen Jindal told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here this evening.

…Stating that he discussed with the chief minister the group’s four projects comprising the Rs 52,000-crore steel plant, a thermal power plant involving Rs 6,600 crore, the Rs 42,000-crore CTL plant and an industrial complex envisaging an investment of Rs 500 crore, Jindal said a total of Rs 1,01,100 crore would be invested in Orissa over the next decade.

"We also discussed (with the chief minister) on our proposal of enhancing steel capacity from 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 12.5 mtpa," he said, adding the department of steel and mines is likely to list this project for consideration of the task-force by the end of July.

Jindal said, on completion, "about 80,000 barrel of oil per day will be manufactured from the proposed CTL plant." The project is likely to be listed in next task-force meeting in July itself, he added.

… Earlier, the Tata Group, in collaboration with Sasol of South Africa, had evinced interest in setting up a similar coal-to-liquid plant in the state.

… Jindal indicated to set up the unit in Angul district where its steel plant is being built.

JSPL, which had already been alloted a coal block in the state, would complete its proposed CTL petroleum project in eight years, a company executive said, adding about 32,000 would get employment in the project.

… While many mega industries face difficulties in implementing their MoUs, the JSPL chief said his company got support of the local people in Angul district.

Besides these four mega projects, JSPL is also working on setting up an engineering college and a power training institute, Jindal said adding the company is committed to recruit local youths in its plants.

Balancing industrialization related land acquisition with people’s livelihood and their rights

Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Land acquisition, Mettalurgical Cluster - Jajpur (Kalinganagar), Paradip - Jatadhari - Kujanga, POSCO, Steel, Tatas 3 Comments »

Following is an excerpt from a report in LA Times about the Nano plant in Gujarat and how some of the landlosers have managed their finances.

But Pathan, and scores like him who live in the shadow of a new factory built by Tata Motors to make its ultra-cheap Nano car, are the beneficiaries of the race to transform India from a nation of small farmers to an industrialized power.

… Against this backdrop of strife, Pathan’s story is the ideal of what could be achieved if the more than 50 percent of Indians who live off the land get a real stake in the new economy. It’s a principle that advocates of market capitalism and human rights activists can agree on, but that often fails to materialize across rural India, where stories of powerful business interests and corrupt officials conspiring to throw poor farmers off their land are all too common.

Around the Tata plant in Sanand, in the western state of Gujarat, people have begun to talk of the "Nano effect."

Go down a narrow lane that runs to dirt not 15 minutes from the factory and amid the gamboling goats of Chharodi village, you will find 25 new homes.

Property prices have risen sharply — from 50 to 400 percent — and men are making fortunes brokering land deals.

The village head says three dozen of the 3,000 people in Chharodi have gotten work from contractors. The Nano factory hasn’t given them jobs directly, but it has offered a toehold in the industrial economy. They remain farmers, but a growing part of their income comes from informal business ventures or work for contractors.

Pathan and his three brothers sold the government one-third of their family farm to make way for the Nano plant. They were paid 20 million rupees ($432,900) — a fortune even in Gujarat, one of India’s richest states.

Ask the Pathan brothers what they did with this money, and they grin like schoolboys.

They bought 2.7 hectares (6.6 acres) of land — more than doubling their initial landholding — three kilometers (two miles) away, where they are preparing to plant their first crop.

They bought seven tractors and three Bolero jeeps, which they use for contracting work at the Nano site, raking in 455,000 rupees ($9,848) a month.

They are rebuilding their family home. Gone is the mud and thatch. Today their angular concrete two-story is the biggest on the block.

"You’ve done a damn good job out here," Pathan says of Ratan Tata, who heads the Tata group’s sprawling industrial empire.

The underlined part above is an important part. If the land losers are paid multiple times the "current" value of their land, in most places they can easily buy more than that amount of land within a few kms.

Following is an excerpt from a Nageswar Patnaik article in Economic Times

There is something to cheer about for the families displaced by the Tata Steel Project at Kalinganagar. These families have achieved zero dropout rate at elementary school level, sustainable environment, poverty eradication, increase in literacy rate, gender equality, empowerment of women.

The achievers of these challenging Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are not highly educated and extraordinary urbanite people, but ordinary members of self-help groups residing in rehabilitation colonies at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

Helped by country’s major steel producer, Tata Steel, the self-help groups called Tata Steel Parivars (TSPs) have successfully ensured that all children living in the colony went to the school and got education. Tata Steel is setting up of a 6-million ton per annum integrated steel plant at Kalinganagar Industrial Complex at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district.

“The noteworthy achievement of Tata Steel Parivars [TSP] at Kalinganagar is that those families have achieved the target of 100% elementary education with zero school drop out rate,” says Sukanta Rout, an educationist who played a crucial role in motivating the children, mostly tribals, to go to the school.

As many as 159 tribal children have been enrolled in the residential schools in Jajpur district. Similarly, 50 children have got the opportunity of studying in one of the premier schools of the state – Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), here. As many as 213 children are studying in schools as day scholars.

Simultaneously, there is significant jump in the literacy levels of the TSPs from 45% in 2005 to 65% in 2010.

Most significantly, there has been an incredible and drastic change in the will power of women of these relocated families. The empowered women community are now self-employed and going overboard for what they are doing. They have engaged themselves in poultry farming, gardening, stone carving, saura painting and in setting up of small industries like phenyl and pickles.

“A few years before, we were quite poor, – we did not have money to even buy food, let alone send our children to school. Now with own our income, we are not only meeting our day-today expenses but also support our school and college-going children,” says Jamiti Mahanta, head of an SHG group.

If the industries that are coming up in Odisha, such as POSCO and Vedanta, can be made to do the above and perhaps more then it will be a win-win situation for all. POSCO’s current package seems to be a step in the right direction. Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard article on that.

Posco, the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India at $12 billion (Rs 54,000 crore), has offered the largest ever compensation package in the country for the displaced and landless farmers.

The Rs 400 crore compensation — part of its estimated project cost — announced by Posco India for Orissa, is expected to benchmark industry relief in the country. The package will benefit over 2000 encroachers and landless labourers at the Posco site.

While Rs 100 crore will be provided for the acquisition of government and private land, Rs 100 crore will be given towards building a rehabilitation colony and Rs 200 crore as compensation to encroachers of government land.

The move – including encroachers of government land and landless labourers earning their livelihood from the area – was beyond the prescription of the state or national rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policies.

While fixing the price of private land at Rs 17 lakh per acre, the Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) for the Posco project announced a compensation of Rs 11.5 lakh an acre for the loss of betel vines, most of which are on government land. There are about 1,877 betel vines in the site covering 300 acres.

Landless labourers working in the betel vines will get 20 per cent of the total compensation for the loss, which is over and above the amount paid to the owners of the areas where betel is grown.

Similarly, RPDAC has prescribed assistance of Rs 2 lakh per acre for owners of the prawn gheris — most of which are operating on government land — and Rs 1 lakh an acre for farmers using government land for agriculture.

In a never-before step, the South Korean steel giant’s package will pay an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,250 a month to the landless labourers, who will lose their livelihood following the acquisition, till they are provided job by the company. Capping it all, RPDAC has decided to provide alternative housing to families who had encroached and built their houses on government land.

In comparison, the compensation package for sharecroppers or landless labourers in Bengal’s Singur was 25 per cent of what the land owner received — for a single-crop Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh for double-crop farmland. In Nayachar, the West Bengal government had promised to rehabilitate 100-150 fishermen families who had encroached upon government land — the site for a chemical hub.

The rate is also more than what neighbouring Chhattisgarh is offering. The government there recently hiked the compensation to Rs 10 lakh for an acre for two-crop farmland, Rs 8 lakh an acre for single-crop un-irrigated land and Rs 6 lakh for barren land.

The captive mines given to these companies and the royalty rate is a different issue. I believe that currently the royalty given to the state is too little.

Vedanta making a multi-speciality hospital in Jharsuguda; Apollo and Fortis may jointly run it

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, HEALTHCARE and HOSPITALS, Jharsugurha, Vedanta 9 Comments »

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After the successful operationalization of its smelter plant at Jharsuguda, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has now decided to set up a state-of-the-art, multi-speciality hospital at the same location at an investment of Rs 50 crore.

… The hospital will be spread over nine thousand sq metres.

Construction work on the hospital has kicked off in June 2010 and it is scheduled to be fully operational by January 2011. Mumbai-based Hosmac India Limited, a noted company in the field of hospital planning and management consultancy, has been roped in for the design and lay-out of VAL’s hospital.

The overall layout of the hospital is designed keeping in view the comfort and convenience of the patients and their attendants. Despite being a high-class hospital in terms of its structure and services, it will serve the people belonging to different socio-economic groups and especially and will be dedicated to timely and affordable medical assistance to the poor.

To ensure a highly professional approach in the running of the hospital, VAL is negotiating with healthcare majors like Apollo Group of Hospitals and Fortis. Both these hospitals are expected to operate the hospital jointly. …

Nine industrial proposals get single window clearance: Samaja

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Berhampur- Gopalpur- Chhatrapur, Dhenkanal, Ferro-chrome, Ganjam, Industrial Parks, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Jharsugurha, Kalahandi, Kendrapada, MSE - medium and small enterprises, Paradip - Jatadhari - Kujanga, Rayagada, Rayagada- Therubali, Samaja (in Odia), Single Window Clearance (SLSWCA), Sonepur, Steel ancilaries, Sugar, Thermal Comments Off on Nine industrial proposals get single window clearance: Samaja

State Single Window Clearance Authority approves expansion of Vedanta plants in Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, Jharsugurha, Jharsugurha- Brajarajnagar- Belpahar, Kalahandi, Single Window Clearance (SLSWCA), Thermal, Vedanta Comments Off on State Single Window Clearance Authority approves expansion of Vedanta plants in Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

The State Level Single Window Authority (SLSWA) chaired by the Chief Secretary green signalled projects worth of Rs.37,440 crore.

Expansion of Alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi from the existing 1 Million Ton Per Annum (MTPA) to 6 MTPA has been allowed.

This project is facing opposition from local people and Union Minister for Forest & Environment, said sources.

Aluminium Smelter at Jharsuguda from the existing 0.25 MTPA to 1.60 MTPA expansion allowed by the Authority, said an official.

Similarly expansion of the Captive Power Plant (CPP) at Jharsuguda from 675 MW to 1350 MW has been allowed, said sources.

These proposals were pending earlier and with the clearance of Single Window Authority, it will go to the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) for final clearance, said an official.

Kalinganagar sees light and allows Tatas to build its infrastructure; Paradeep/Kujanga/Dhinikia in the right path with POSCO; Puri and Kalahandi still have their head buried in the sand

Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Iron Ore, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Kalahandi, Paradip - Jatadhari - Kujanga, POSCO, Puri, Steel, Tatas, TOI, Economic Times 6 Comments »

Following is from an article by Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times. Nageshwar is a big critic of the Tatas. So coming from him, I give a lot of value to the article.

Buoyed by successful resettlement of displaced persons after five years, Tata Steel, which is setting up a 6-mtpa steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district, has undertaken massive infrastructure development work at the project site to get support of the local people, especially the tribals.

Under its Tata Steel Parivar resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) programme, the leading steel producer of the country has laid 20 km of quality motorable roads connecting all rehabilitation colonies, besides constructing 32 km of drainage system at adjoining tribal-dominated villages such as Trijanga, Sansailo and Gobarghati.

As many as 300 sodium vapour halogen lamp posts have been installed and pipe water provision made to provide better life to the displaced people living in rehabilitation colonies.

Each colony in the project area has a dispensary, community centre and several education centres offering management and technical courses.

“The Tata Steel Parivar rehabilitation scheme at Kalinga Nagar provides substantially better facilities than the government-framed R&R policy. The government policy provides employment for one member from each core household. On the other hand, Tata Steel Parivar policy provides employment opportunities for each major member of the core house. It also provides training facilities for technical skill upgrade,” a press statement, issued by the company here on Thursday, said.

The release also noted that scholarships were being provided for displaced persons pursuing higher education in professional fields such as medicine, engineering and management.

“An amount of Rs 2.21 lakh is also provided as onetime assistance in lieu of employment. Further, under the Tata Steel Parivar policy, each family is given a monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 2,000-2,300 till they get employment in the plant whereas the policy stipulates payment of maintenance allowance for 12 months only,” it added.

The opposition in Kalinganagar has finally seen light and allowed the Tatas to build the infrastructure of Kalinganagar. Related to this, The Telegraph of UK has apologized to the Tatas for their negative coverage.

Things also seem to be going in the positive direction in the POSCO front and I hope the people there visit Tata’s colonies in Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with POSCO. In addition the Odisha government should push POSCO in developing a POSTECH like University in Paradeep.

However, there is not much progress with respect to Vedanta Aluminum in Kalahandi or Vedanta University in Puri. Here again it would be wise for the people there to visit Tata’s colonies Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with Vedanta. But the time may be running out for Puri as Vedanta University Project has indicated that it may give up and move south where it will be welcomed with open arms. If that happens it would of course be a mistake of a century for Puri and Odisha.

In regards to the Arcelor-Mittal and Keonjhar the company really has not made much visible effort to woo the people.

SLSWCA clears proposals for five cement units, 2 aluminum conductor units, a maize processing unit and a petroleum coke plant

Aluminium, Aluminum ancilaries, Anil Agarwal, Balasore, Cement, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsugurha, Maize Processing, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Petrochemicals, Single Window Clearance (SLSWCA), Sundergarh, Vedanta 1 Comment »

Following is an excerpt from a report in sify.com.

The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) today cleared nine new investment proposals worth Rs 4920.26 crore. Out of these, five are in the cement sector, two aluminium conductor units, a maize processing unit and a petroleum coke plant.

Out of the five new cement projects, two are of Madras Cement which will set up its units at Sundergarh and Malkangiri.

The company’s Sundargarh plant will have two million tonne per annum (mtpa) cement capacity along with 40 MW of captive power generation facility. The project is estimated to cost Rs 750 crore. Madras Cement, known for its Ramko brand of cement, will also have a cement fibre sheet plant at the same location at an investment of Rs 35 crore.

The company’s second cement unit in the state, also with a capacity of two mtpa, will come up at Malkanagiri. It will have a 36 MW Captive Power Plant and the combined cost of the project is pegged at Rs 700 crore.

Apart from Madras Cement, Ajmer-based Shree Cement, known for its Bangur brand of cement, has proposed to set up a three mtpa cement unit and a 36 MW CPP, also at Malkangiri, at an investment of Rs 683 crore.

ACC Cement intends to set up a three mtpa cement unit and a 50 MW CPP at Malkangiri, involving an investment of Rs 1850 crore.

Similarly, Emami Group which has a newsprint making plant at Balgopalpur in Balasore district will invest Rs 179 crore at Somnathpur in the same district for setting up a 0.6 mtpa cement grinding unit.

… Among the other investment proposals cleared by SLSWCA is the Seashore Group’s plan to set up a maize processing unit at Papdahandi block in Nabarangpur district at a cost of Rs 160 crore. The facility will come up on 123 acres of land and will require two lakh litres of water per day. The project will create 96 direct jobs besides creating indirect employment opportunity for around 6000 people.

Sterlite Technologies Ltd, a Vedanta Group firm, will invest Rs 51.26 crore on establishing an aluminium conductor plant as well as an aluminium alloy rod unit at Brundamal near Jharsuguda. This plant will be a downstream unit of the company’s existing aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda.

Kalinga Calciners has proposed to set up petroleum coke plant near Paradeep at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The plant will have an overall capacity of 2,20,000 tonnes per annum which will be achieved in two phases.

The SLSWCA also cleared the proposal of Hindustan Vidyut Products Ltd which has evinced interest in setting up an aluminium conductor plant at Jharsuguda, entailing an investment of Rs 389 crore. This project which will come up on 75 acres of land will create direct employment for 153 people and creating indirect jobs for around 400 others.

Its good to see that some of the above units are proposed for remote backward districts such as Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.