Trials continue for the Adivasi community in Odisha’s Dhinkia village of Jagatsinghpur district. On February 7, 2022, community members worked with rights activists to submit a complaint against violations at the site where the JSW Utka Steel Ltd intends to carry out its development projects. Residents submitted a memorandum to Deputy Director General of Forests A.T Mishra demanding an impartial inquiry regarding the Environment Clearance (EC) of the proposed project.

Earlier, the EAC responded to complaints regarding the disturbances of sand dunes along with construction of roads at the project site by directing the regional office at Bhubaneswar to submit a report to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.On Monday, residents talked about further violations at the same location. Primarily, the memorandum talked about the large number of trees that were cut by the project proponent before receiving the approval or environmental clearance from the Forest Department. Many trees and shrubs were also uprooted using JSB machines and back-filled to hide the existence of those fauna.

“This is a strict violation of the Environmental Impact Assessment 2006 and Forest Conservation Act 1980,” said the memorandum.

Further, the project proponents used concrete slabs and other construction machinery during fencing work at night in the forest area between the jetty and the ISP plant site. Residents worried that this will severely affect the forest animals.

“On this pretext the Committee has already instructed the project proponent to provide the conservation measure of the forest patch. Therefore we would like you to consider our earnest request and take necessary action thereupon as per the provision, for which we would be highly obliged to you,” said the letter.

The signatories asked officers to enquire about such violations as against EIA Notification 2006 & Ministry’s O.M regarding securing of land. To ensure transparency and accountability, they demanded the entire enquiry be videographed.

“We would also like to request you to consider us who mostly work in safeguarding the environment and forest through various professions to accompany your team during the field visit which could ease your team’s work,” said the letter signed by activists, villagers and supporters.

A copy of the memorandum can be viewed below:

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The residents of Dhinkia village in Odisha, with the help of Debendra Swain of the anti-Jindal anti-Posco movement have written to CK Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) against the proposed construction of five projects by M/s JSW Utkal Steel Limited.

The projects are:

Integrated Steel Plant of 13.2 MTPA crude steel

10 MTPA cement grinding unit

900 MW captive power plants.

All weather, multi cargo, greenfield, captive jetties for handling capacity 52 MTPA at Jatadhari Township of 221,500 sq kms.

The villagers of Dhinkia, which falls in the Jagatsinghput district of Odisha believe that the projects will have irreversible impacts on local livelihoods and ecology; a fact that has been proven in the ministry’s own records.

Opposing the environmental clearance granted for the projects, the villagers have said that the project proponents have mislead them about the scale of the project and the faulty environment impact assessment.

The villagers have highlighted their objections to be:

The proposed projects are said to be ‘two’ in number, but consist of at least five separate components. .  For instance the “first project” that has three components: A Steel Plant, A thermal power plant and a cement grinding plant have all been granted a joint Terms of Reference under “Metallurgical Industries (ferrous & non-ferrous).” 

The mention of the construction of a township has not been disclosed in the public hearing dated December 20, 2019. The township is a building and construction project and attracts a separate approval from the Odisha State Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). This amounts to “false and misleading” data as M/s JSW Utkal Steel has selectively clubbed and broken up components of an integrated project that allows them to bypass detailed scrutiny and comprehensive assessment by all applicable Expert Appraisal Committees (EAC). It also misleads the public by presenting the project only two projects and therefore requiring only two public hearings.

The villagers have also complained that no common Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report covering each project component has been prepared. Without a common EIA report, affected people and concerned citizens would not have the opportunity to review the cumulative and comprehensive impacts of all components of an integrated/interlinked project such as the above.

The villagers have also questioned the adequacy of water required for the execution of the projects as the Mahanadi River near Cuttack has been identified as the source river, though it is already stressed. The K Roy Paul committee had recommended that a “source sustainability study of water requirement” be carried out, but this precaution has completely been ignored while planning the projects. No assessment or analysis of historical floods and cyclones or the impact of the project on the natural drainage pattern has been conducted.

In light of the above, the members of the anti-Jindal anti-Posco movement have demanded the following:

1.       Expedient action through your office towards immediately recalling the public hearings held on 20.12.2019.  

2.       Cancellation of the projects on grounds of providing false and misleading data by selectively clubbing and breaking up components of a project that misleads both the public and the appraisal committees. 

After the villagers of Jagatsinghpur fought off the South Korea steel giant POSCO which wanted to acquire land there, it had to gear up to fight JSW Utkal Steel, led by Sajjan Jindal for the same. They are striving to protect the betel leaf cultivation, almost a Rs. 50 crore industry in the area which is the major source of livelihood for the people there apart from fishing and agriculture.

The leaders of the movement against POSCO had been slapped with grave non-bailable offences of murder, rape, dacoity and kidnapping, reported The Hindu. Some 1,500 villagers have been shuttling between courts in Jagatsinghpur and Kujang to get reprieve in the 2,500 non-bailable arrest warrants issued against them. “We had not even seen a police station before 2005, when the land acquisition process began. These cases must be dropped,” says Swain, who stands accused in 22 cases.

Regarding JSW setting up a plant on POSCO land, a villager told The New Indian Express, “It is illegal to set up the JSW plant on Posco land. The State Government should have returned the land to people as no project could be set up within five years of its acquisition.” He also alleged that around 5,000 betel vine workers were rendered jobless due to dismantling of vines during land acquisition for Posco. The Government had decided to give sustenance allowance of Rs. 2,500 to each betel vine worker and 20 per cent of the compensation awarded to their respective vineyard owner. However, 99 per cent of the workers are yet to receive the allowance and compensation, he added.

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