By Our Correspondent/Agencies
RAIGARH/JHARSUGUDA/BHUBANESWAR: Kanhaiyalal (59) and Jairam Khalko (35), two workers of Raigarh facility of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) in Chhattisgarh bordering Odisha, who were admitted at a Hospital following a fuel tank explosion that took place on Wednesday, died in the hospital while 2 others struggling for life. It was a setback to JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal before Coal Block Bidding
The other two are out of danger and undergoing treatment. A case had been registered in connection with the incident and investigation was underway. The accident took place when 4 contractual workers were cutting the diesel tank of an abandoned bus parked in JSPL’s scrap yard in Patralapali village. The tank exploded injuring the four who were rushed to the Jindal Fortis hospital.
Raigarh SP Santosh Singh said “Kanhaiyalal (59) and Jairam Khalko (35) died in the hospital ,”. The Industrial Health and Safety Department of Chhattisgarh had issued a notice to the JSPL management seeking its reply in connection with the incident.
Based on the preliminary probe, Police suspected that there was some diesel or gas in the tank and might have come in contact with the flame of the gas cutter, leading to the explosion. Of the injured, two suffered 90 per cent burns.
In a statement, JSPL Management termed the incident as unfortunate. “During this sad and painful time, JSPL stands by the aggrieved families,” it said, adding that all the financial dues were being taken care of by the company.
In February 2020, a week before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed that ‘expansion’ of any thermal power project can only happen in Chhattisgarh subject to certain conditions, environmental clearance was given to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd for coal transport by road, as part of the expansion plan by the EAC. The EAC or Expert Appraisal Committee constituted under the Ministry of Environment, is a body that gives clearance to development projects.
In an order dated February 27, 2020, in Shivpal Bhagat & Others versus Union of India, the principal bench of NGT had said: ‘Any further expansion or new projects in the area should be allowed after thorough evaluation only and mechanism for remedial measures should be in place.
Some of the major highlights of the February judgment by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and expert members – Dr Nagin Nanda and Siddhanta Das – were as follows:
The bench did acknowledge that there were ‘serious deficiencies’ and that there is ‘potential for damage to the environment’. Going by the principles of ‘Precautionary’ and ‘Sustainable Development’, the NGT order further noted that ‘any further expansion or new projects in the area should be allowed thorough evaluation only’.
The Tribunal entrusted a nodal agency, an ‘Oversight Committee’, which had been constituted on July 22, 2019, with the task of submitting a status report on the issue by July 15, 2020. The next hearing in the case is due on July 28, 2020.However, almost a week before the NGT order regarding further expansion came, on February 21, 2020, at an EAC meeting by the Ministry of Environment, permission was granted for ‘coal transportation by road’ as part of expansion of 1,000 MW plant being run by Jindal Steel & Power Ltd., in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh.
Referred to as the ‘38th Meeting of the re-constituted EAC on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of thermal power projects’, the meeting was attended by six members of the panel constituted under the Ministry of Environment. The meeting was held in New Delhi on February 21, 2020 under the leadership of Navin Chandra, chairman of EAC, along with five other members that included NP Shukla, Gururaj P Kundargi, Jai Krishna Pandey, RK Giri and S Kerketta. Listed as item no. 38.7 in the minutes of the meeting, as shown in a document accessed from the website of the Ministry of Environment, the matter was referred to as ‘re-consideration of amendment in the Environment Clearance for coal transportation by road’.
In an effort to reduce the pollution caused by road transport of coal, the NGT, in its February 27 order, had also said that ‘transport of coal from coal mines to thermal plants by road will be permitted only for one year after which transport needs to be done by rail or conveyor belt only’.
The Environment Ministry-led panel had given ‘temporary permission’ to transport coal by road till December 2020. However, according to some grass root-level activists the go-ahead for coal transport under the expansion plan will cause more harm than good to environment.
JSPL, which is involved in mining, already building roads by acquiring the common community land of village without the mandatory SIA (Social Impact Assessment) in most cases”.In August 2017, a study released by the Community Environmental Monitoring (CEM) and Dalit Adivasi Mazdoor Sangathan had found that cadmium levels in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district were 169 times higher than the safe limit.
Following the Supreme Court’s 2014 judgment in the coal scam, the mines earlier allotted to JSPL as captive mines are now being operated by Coal India’s SECL (South Eastern Coalfields Ltd) as custodian. Residents in neighbouring villages, where JSPL is operating, have been caught in a legal battle since 2014. Concerns have been raised about the rise in pollution levels due to indiscriminate mining in the area by power sector companies.
Shivpal Bhagat versus Union of India is one such case among a batch of other petitions, wherein Bhagat, the Sarpanch of Kosampali and Sarasmal villages in Raigarh, has been vocal about health risks being posed by regular flouting of pollution norms by the corporate entity in his vicinity.
A fresh round of computation of pollution-related data by local environmentalists was due to be done in March this year but had to be stalled due to the COVID lockdown. Interestingly, on October 11, 2019, a report on the impact of coal mining activity was submitted before the NGT by a panel of experts. The report was titled ‘Preliminary Investigation into Environmental Carrying Capacity for Polluting Projects and Allied Issues in Tamnar & Gharghoda Blocks of Raigarh District Chhattisgarh’.
Among the five members of this panel constituted by NGT itself in July 2019, three were representatives of the Ministry of Environment. These included CPCB or Central Pollution Control Board members, PK Behera and RP Mishra along with Purushottam Sakhare (Representative of MoEFCC, Regional Office, Nagpur).
