Local people show strong opposition to Lafarge cement plant in Himachal

24

By: Manshi Asher

On 23rd June 2010, the Chairman of the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) made a visit to the Lafarge Cement and Limestone Mines project site in order to assess the feasibility of the Environment Clearance granted to the project last year on 8th June 2009. The Environment Clearance to the project has been challenged by two separate petitioners, Pratap Singh Thakur and Ganga Singh Thakur who have filed their appeals, challenging the Environment Clearance, with the NEAA. The most critical argument being made by the petitioners is that the negative socio economic and environmental impacts of the project have been completely overlooked by the Environment Impact Assessment Report  and the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s ‘Expert Advisory Committee’ while recommending clearance to Rs. 900 crore, 3 MTPA  greenfield project.

“While the Expert Advisory Committee of the Ministry did make a site visit in May 2009 after objections raised by us and all affected communities, the committee did not visit the actual mining site nor did it meet any of the affected persons and granted the Environment clearance in June 2009” said Shri Pratap Singh Thakur. The counsel for Pratap Singh Thakur, Supreme court environmental lawyer Shri  Ritwick Dutta has argued that the very purpose of the MoEF committee’s site visit was defeated by such a superficial visit. Based on this, Appellate Authority member Shri J.C Kala on 13th May 2010 had ordered that he himself would undertake a visit to the project site in June and carry out a detailed assessment by interacting with the affected people.

During the site visit the Shri Kala visited Shakrori, located opposite the proposed plant site, Thalli (adjacent to the plant site, Bagshyad and Kanda (at the mining site) and had discussions with the local people. More than 200 people had gathered at Thalli, and strongly opposed the setting up of the plant given the productive agriculture of the area – which would be adversely affected by pollution from the plant. At Bagshyad, a gathering of 400 people dominated by women also presented their concerns and grievances to Shri Kala. The mining site will affect 16 villages of 3 Panchayats – Balindi, Bagshyad and Bindla, as they will lose part of their agricultural lands and most of their forest lands under the category of Demarcated Protected Forest. The existence of natural groves of pomegranate trees is a substantial source of horticultural produce from the area. Fruit trees like Apricot, peach, almond, pear, mango, jamun, banana apart from fuel and fodder species also add to the local biodiversity. Apart from this the mining activity will indirectly affect, with its solid waste and pollution generation, all the villages in the Alsindi valley downslope of the Pheridhar ridge.

“It is shocking that the Environment Impact Assessment report presented by the project proponents had no mention of this extensive dependence on forests and agriculture and instead projected that 49% of the people in the area are jobless” said Shri K.G Thakur, representative from the area. A joint action committee of representatives of the affected Panchayats and 9 local community organisations (including youth groups) called Jai Shri Deo Badeyogi Sangharsh Evam Paryavaran Sanrakshan Samiti has been leading the agitation against the project since the last three years. A lot of resentment has built up against the local MLA (Karsog) Shri Hiralal, as he has not stood with the local sentiment of the project and this was obvious during the site visit, as people raised slogans against him. The district administration too, despite repeated petitioning and appeals by the people, has turned a blind eye to the local concerns related to the project. “Even during the site visit officials of the administration were discouraging the Appellate Authority Chairman from visiting the actual affected site” added Shri Hiramani, another member of the Samiti. However, Shri Kala, did finally visit the area and stated that he would review all the facts before him and give a just order in the matter.

This was a first visit of its kind by the National Environment Appellate Authority to the state of Himachal Pradesh. Recently, the Authority Chairman also visited sites in Uttarakhand and Goa to assess environmental impacts of projects. “Such a site visit is a critical step in assessing the ground situation and it also re-assures the local people that their concerns are being heard at least, in an atmosphere where the local administration and political representatives are either mute spectators or biased towards the project proponents” said Prakash Bhandari, of Environment Research and Action Collective, who was also present during the site visit.

For more details:

K.G. Thakur and Salig Ram ( Jai Shri Deo Badeyogi Sangharsh Evam Paryavaran Sanrakshan Samiti) 9418000612

Prakash Bhandari and Manshi Asher (Environment Research and Action Collective) 9816089920

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24 COMMENTS

  1. if u want to see the shape of things to come , please visit Sataun in Distt. Sirmaur . It is very well connected via Yamunanagar (Haryana) . See how the hills have been RAPED by monstrous cement factories. U will shiver and tremble with fear. If u are really serious u 'll definitely take note and write something on that.

  2. if u want to see the shape of things to come , please visit Sataun in Distt. Sirmaur . It is very well connected via Yamunanagar (Haryana) . See how the hills have been RAPED by monstrous cement factories. U will shiver and tremble with fear. If u are really serious u 'll definitely take note and write something on that.

  3. mere lip-service will do nothing . visit Saton/Sataun , take pictures and publish here . let people c for themselves !

    • Eight laborers belong to Himalayan Mineral Chemical were buried alive at Sataun area 21 km from Pontashaib in Sirmour district after a house collapse over night on them

  4. mere lip-service will do nothing . visit Saton/Sataun , take pictures and publish here . let people c for themselves !

    • Eight laborers belong to Himalayan Mineral Chemical were buried alive at Sataun area 21 km from Pontashaib in Sirmour district after a house collapse over night on them

  5. this cement plant is poison to the thousands of people residing near this cement plane i.e. suni, shakrori, chaba, basantpur,makarcha, gharyana' dwarsu, jamog, junni, mandhorghat, summi, seri, bhargan, dedheog, baag, reog, patukhar, kangri, farneote from sunni tehsil and Tattapani, randol, sabot, thali, dagaon, ghanger, relar, deol, nando, jero, shakra in tehsil karsog. thousands of pet animal will die without grass and water die to installation of this cement plant.

  6. this cement plant is poison to the thousands of people residing near this cement plane i.e. suni, shakrori, chaba, basantpur,makarcha, gharyana' dwarsu, jamog, junni, mandhorghat, summi, seri, bhargan, dedheog, baag, reog, patukhar, kangri, farneote from sunni tehsil and Tattapani, randol, sabot, thali, dagaon, ghanger, relar, deol, nando, jero, shakra in tehsil karsog. thousands of pet animal will die without grass and water die to installation of this cement plant.

    • Himvani is not a commercial organisation where it has reporters based on ground. It works on the Citizen Journalism platform where most of the stories are sent by the people themselves. At times it is not possible to send pictures from the ground. I hope the readers will take stock of this..!!

    • Himvani is not a commercial organisation where it has reporters based on ground. It works on the Citizen Journalism platform where most of the stories are sent by the people themselves. At times it is not possible to send pictures from the ground. I hope the readers will take stock of this..!!

  7. Lafarge needs to be kicked out ! This is no way of development . Poor, humble Himachli is being taken for a ride . These hyenas will eat-up Himachal !

  8. Lafarge needs to be kicked out ! This is no way of development . Poor, humble Himachli is being taken for a ride . These hyenas will eat-up Himachal !

  9. reports published in some newspapers are wrong and baseless which shows that the local public supported to establish the proposed cement plant. there was a crowed of about 1500 people from Shakrori village to Talehan village. the support shown in the newspapers is totally wrong. village Talehan is main mining area where local people strongly opposed the installation of cement plant before the National Environment Appealate Authotiry. The strong opposition was shown by Gram Vikas Samiti Talehan, Mahila Mandal Talehan, Dharam Raksha Manch Talehan, Mool Mahunag Sangarsh Samiti Bindla, President Gram Panchayat Bindla(Talehan) and Yuvak Mandal Talehan. it is wrong intimation that the opposition was made only by the outsiders. but it is opposite from this statement the people favouring the cement plant are outsiders. for example the president of sapnot panchayat is about 50 kilometre away from the proposed cement plant. the truth is that 90% of the affective people opposed the proposed cement plant.

  10. reports published in some newspapers are wrong and baseless which shows that the local public supported to establish the proposed cement plant. there was a crowed of about 1500 people from Shakrori village to Talehan village. the support shown in the newspapers is totally wrong. village Talehan is main mining area where local people strongly opposed the installation of cement plant before the National Environment Appealate Authotiry. The strong opposition was shown by Gram Vikas Samiti Talehan, Mahila Mandal Talehan, Dharam Raksha Manch Talehan, Mool Mahunag Sangarsh Samiti Bindla, President Gram Panchayat Bindla(Talehan) and Yuvak Mandal Talehan. it is wrong intimation that the opposition was made only by the outsiders. but it is opposite from this statement the people favouring the cement plant are outsiders. for example the president of sapnot panchayat is about 50 kilometre away from the proposed cement plant. the truth is that 90% of the affective people opposed the proposed cement plant.

  11. the proposed cement plant should not be installed at any cost. i am a local resident of village talehan and i strongly oppose the installation of this cement plant. it will cause damage to our ecology and our agriculture and horticulture land.

    • There are widespread resentment against Lafarge cement plant in Himachal and similarly Lafarge is being criticized elsewhere in country where its projects are being set. People should be be united against any move to damage the ecology and local interest by this MNC which is slowly becoming aggressive over our people and authorities are easily susceptible to corruption. This is sorry state of order raising concern of common man in the country.

  12. the proposed cement plant should not be installed at any cost. i am a local resident of village talehan and i strongly oppose the installation of this cement plant. it will cause damage to our ecology and our agriculture and horticulture land.

    • There are widespread resentment against Lafarge cement plant in Himachal and similarly Lafarge is being criticized elsewhere in country where its projects are being set. People should be be united against any move to damage the ecology and local interest by this MNC which is slowly becoming aggressive over our people and authorities are easily susceptible to corruption. This is sorry state of order raising concern of common man in the country.

  13. I again say Nityin get some pics of cement stone excavation sites from Sataun in Sirmaur and post them here . I bet no one can imagine the horrible ,naked and ghastly state of things there !

  14. I again say Nityin get some pics of cement stone excavation sites from Sataun in Sirmaur and post them here . I bet no one can imagine the horrible ,naked and ghastly state of things there !

  15. उद्योगिक पॅकेज के नाम पर हिमाचल के साथ धोखा हो रहा है : कई पीढ़ियों तक हिमाचल की नसले उद्योगपतियों की गुलाम हो जाएंगी

    हिमाचल की हजारों बीघे भूमि ,होटल, सरकारी संसथान ,विभाग लीज़ पर दिए जा रहें हैं जिनमे किसी को ९९ साल किसी को ५० साल किसी को २० साल अलग -अलग वर्ग की लीज़ दी जा रही है .
    सरकार ने निम्नलिखित सवालो का जबाब अभी तक हिमाचल के लोगो को नहीं दिया .
    १) जो जमीने लीज़ पर बाहरी राज्यों के लोगो को दी जा रही है उनको किस आधार पर लीज़ दी जा रही है ? लीज़ देते समय क्या उनके मालिको की उमर के आधार पर दी जा रही है ? अगर सरकार उनके मालिकों की उमर के आधार पर लीज़ दे रही है तो सरकार को उनकी उमर तक ही लीज़ देनी होगी उनके बच्चों को नहीं .
    क्या सरकार को पता है की वो लोग 99 साल तक जिंदा रहेंगे ?
    २) हिमाचल में कितनी लीजे परमानेंट रूप से बेचीं या तब्दील की गई हैं उन लोगों को जो हिमाचल से जन्मजात सम्बन्ध नहीं रखते हैं
    ३) हिमाचल में कितनी बेनाम संपतियां हिमाचली लोगो के नाम है जो किसी नौकर,रिश्तेदार,दोस्तों के नाम से हैं ? जिनको बाद में उन्ही लोगों को बेचा जा रहा है जिन्होंने झाली रूप से ये जमीनें खरीदी हैं .
    ४) जब उद्योगिक पॅकेज उद्योगिक घरानों को दिया जा रहा है तो वे वो अधिकार क्यों प्रयोग कर रहे है जो की एक हिमाचली को जन्मजात से मिलते है उनके पास दो-दो राज्यों के राशन कार्ड ,गैस कनेक्शन हैं उनको उद्योगिक पॅकेज की श्रेणी में क्यों नहीं रखा गया ?
    ५) हिमाचल में में कितने जाली उद्योग हैं जो पैकेज ले रहें हैं ?
    ६) जिन लोगों ने हिमाचल में उद्योग लगाये हैं 25 साल बाद वे तो हिमाचली हो जायेंगे और उनके बच्चे भी यहाँ के हो जायेगे जबकि सरकार ने उन्हें यहाँ उद्योगिक पॅकेज के जरिये बुलाया था जब उन अमीर घरों के बच्चों का हिमाचल में अतिक्रमण होगा तो हिमाचल की नसले कहाँ जाएगी .क्या अपने बच्चों को हम अभी से जहर दे देंगे ?
    यह सरकार ने अभी तक सपष्ट नहीं किया .क्योंकि हिमाचल के लोग मध्यम वर्गीय या गरीब परिवारों से सम्बन्ध रखते हैं अतः हिमाचल के लोग गुलामी का जीवन जियेंगे . ७) हिमचल के कितने उद्योगों में 70 प्रतिसत हिमाचली हैं .
    ८) कितने हिमाचल के लोगों को उद्योगों में निम्नतम वेतन मिल रहा है .
    ९) इस उद्योगिक काम में हिमाचल के कितने नेताओ का प्रतक्ष या अप्रत्यक्ष रूप से भागीदारी है. और इस पॅकेज का फायदा किसको होगा ? कौड़ियों के भाव हिमाचल को क्यों बेचा जा रहा है ,
    अगर हिमाचल विद्युत् बोर्ड को प्राइवेट कंपनी कागजो में घोषित किया जा सकता है और मण्डी के राजमहल की जमीन एक नौकर के नाम करवाके बाद में बेचीं जा सकती है तो यह कोई नयी बात नहीं होगी जब हिमाचल के लोग इन लोगों के गुलाम हो जायेंगे और वो भी उद्योगों के नाम पर जबकि हकीकत यह है की हिमाचल के बहुत ही लोगों के कम उद्योग हैं ?
    ———————————————SAVE HIMACHAL—————————————————————————

  16. उद्योगिक पॅकेज के नाम पर हिमाचल के साथ धोखा हो रहा है : कई पीढ़ियों तक हिमाचल की नसले उद्योगपतियों की गुलाम हो जाएंगी

    हिमाचल की हजारों बीघे भूमि ,होटल, सरकारी संसथान ,विभाग लीज़ पर दिए जा रहें हैं जिनमे किसी को ९९ साल किसी को ५० साल किसी को २० साल अलग -अलग वर्ग की लीज़ दी जा रही है .
    सरकार ने निम्नलिखित सवालो का जबाब अभी तक हिमाचल के लोगो को नहीं दिया .
    १) जो जमीने लीज़ पर बाहरी राज्यों के लोगो को दी जा रही है उनको किस आधार पर लीज़ दी जा रही है ? लीज़ देते समय क्या उनके मालिको की उमर के आधार पर दी जा रही है ? अगर सरकार उनके मालिकों की उमर के आधार पर लीज़ दे रही है तो सरकार को उनकी उमर तक ही लीज़ देनी होगी उनके बच्चों को नहीं .
    क्या सरकार को पता है की वो लोग 99 साल तक जिंदा रहेंगे ?
    २) हिमाचल में कितनी लीजे परमानेंट रूप से बेचीं या तब्दील की गई हैं उन लोगों को जो हिमाचल से जन्मजात सम्बन्ध नहीं रखते हैं
    ३) हिमाचल में कितनी बेनाम संपतियां हिमाचली लोगो के नाम है जो किसी नौकर,रिश्तेदार,दोस्तों के नाम से हैं ? जिनको बाद में उन्ही लोगों को बेचा जा रहा है जिन्होंने झाली रूप से ये जमीनें खरीदी हैं .
    ४) जब उद्योगिक पॅकेज उद्योगिक घरानों को दिया जा रहा है तो वे वो अधिकार क्यों प्रयोग कर रहे है जो की एक हिमाचली को जन्मजात से मिलते है उनके पास दो-दो राज्यों के राशन कार्ड ,गैस कनेक्शन हैं उनको उद्योगिक पॅकेज की श्रेणी में क्यों नहीं रखा गया ?
    ५) हिमाचल में में कितने जाली उद्योग हैं जो पैकेज ले रहें हैं ?
    ६) जिन लोगों ने हिमाचल में उद्योग लगाये हैं 25 साल बाद वे तो हिमाचली हो जायेंगे और उनके बच्चे भी यहाँ के हो जायेगे जबकि सरकार ने उन्हें यहाँ उद्योगिक पॅकेज के जरिये बुलाया था जब उन अमीर घरों के बच्चों का हिमाचल में अतिक्रमण होगा तो हिमाचल की नसले कहाँ जाएगी .क्या अपने बच्चों को हम अभी से जहर दे देंगे ?
    यह सरकार ने अभी तक सपष्ट नहीं किया .क्योंकि हिमाचल के लोग मध्यम वर्गीय या गरीब परिवारों से सम्बन्ध रखते हैं अतः हिमाचल के लोग गुलामी का जीवन जियेंगे . ७) हिमचल के कितने उद्योगों में 70 प्रतिसत हिमाचली हैं .
    ८) कितने हिमाचल के लोगों को उद्योगों में निम्नतम वेतन मिल रहा है .
    ९) इस उद्योगिक काम में हिमाचल के कितने नेताओ का प्रतक्ष या अप्रत्यक्ष रूप से भागीदारी है. और इस पॅकेज का फायदा किसको होगा ? कौड़ियों के भाव हिमाचल को क्यों बेचा जा रहा है ,
    अगर हिमाचल विद्युत् बोर्ड को प्राइवेट कंपनी कागजो में घोषित किया जा सकता है और मण्डी के राजमहल की जमीन एक नौकर के नाम करवाके बाद में बेचीं जा सकती है तो यह कोई नयी बात नहीं होगी जब हिमाचल के लोग इन लोगों के गुलाम हो जायेंगे और वो भी उद्योगों के नाम पर जबकि हकीकत यह है की हिमाचल के बहुत ही लोगों के कम उद्योग हैं ?
    ———————————————SAVE HIMACHAL—————————————————————————

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