Editorial: Whose Business is Environment?

We tend to take the Environment and Climate Change for granted. Most of us are blasé about the global crisis, perhaps, because everybody’s problem is nobody’s problem. Every time there is a cyclone or an untimely flood or forest fire, or any extreme weather event, we curse the climate change, but do not always connect it to happenings around us.

We also tend to view things in the binary of environment or development. If you want development, it is believed, you must brace for some collateral damage. It is taken as a necessary evil. But we also forget that development is a site of conflict and sometimes reckless development can lead to disasters. What brings happiness and prosperity to some in the short run can bring misery to some others, and worse, a calamity for the rest of us in the long run.

The popular expression ‘natural calamity’ is insufficient to describe environmental upheavals of our times. It creates the impression that disasters are natural or imminent. But fortunately, the intrinsic link between ecology, disasters, and large projects, is beginning to get appreciated today. And that is why our policymakers must understand the configuration, geology, and nature of the terrain before clearing a large project. They must also listen to experts and affected people before commissioning mega projects in fragile regions.

CHAR DHAM ROAD-WIDENING PROJECT

Take for example the Char Dham road widening project coming up at a hurtling speed in Uttarakhand. The 900-km project is set to connect the Hindu holy places of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. The policymakers were keen to create a mega high- speed corridor for pilgrimage while overlooking the fact that the area was known for landslides and disasters. They also ignored sincere and credible warnings that the project’s environmental costs will be several times higher than its colossal price tag of Rs 12000 crore. Worse still, this cost will be borne by the poor subsistence farmers, hillside villagers, and the delicate ecological balance of these magnificent mountains. Huge cracks have already appeared in houses and access roads to many villages have collapsed.

Common Cause got involved when it was contacted by the villagers and panchayat members from Harsil Valley, located on the banks of the Bhagirathi River on the way to Gangotri. They got in touch on the advice of Gandhian green activist, Radha Bhatt, known to the outside world as Radha Bahan or Radha Didi. A veteran of the Chipko movement and an eternal itinerant for social causes, Radha Bahan had been crisscrossing the valley for decades. She requested Common Cause President Mr Kamal Kant Jaswal to intervene. A retired IAS officer of the (undivided) UP Cadre, Mr Jaswal had firsthand experience of the region’s fragile ecosystem, first as the DM of Uttarkashi and later as the head of UP’s PWD. He had overseen relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the 1991 earthquake in which hundreds were killed and thousands were made homeless. The Common Cause team joined him in his due diligence, collecting personal testimonies and photographic evidence.

Our investigations confirmed the dumping of sludge and wreckage directly into the river. Thousands of trees had been chopped off and hundreds of hectares of forest land had been diverted. The whole project was being carried on by subterfuge. It was being pushed ahead without conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), mandatory for every road project longer than 100 km. An EIA conducts varied assessments including cost-benefit analyses and social audits by the affected people. The EIA, in this case, was conveniently bypassed by some clever paperwork which showed the project not as one but many smaller stretches measuring just under 100 km. In 2018, Common Cause filed an Original Application in the matter at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which was later tagged with another petition by Citizens for Green Doon.

In response to the petitions, the NGT appointed a seven-member committee to monitor violation and address environmental concerns. It had representatives from well-informed institutions like the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, National Institute of Disaster Management, and Forest Research Institute, among others. Even though the NGT did not stop the project, it ordered a ‘rapid EIA,’ a halfway house of sorts, factoring air quality, slope stabilisation, muck disposal arrangements, afforestation, and disaster preparedness, etc.

The project has had a long legal journey with many ups and downs. At one stage, the Supreme Court appointed an expert committee headed by noted scientist Ravi Chopra. The court later agreed with the committee’s partial recommendation to restrict the road width to 5.5 metres instead of 10-metres. While the work goes on, some vested interests are trying to circumvent the court’s order. Char Dham project is a living example of how little the ecology matters for policymakers and how difficult it is to secure environmental justice for ordinary people.

OTHER GREEN INTERVENTIONS

Common Cause has filed many more PILs to secure environmental justice. Some recent ones are about the right to clean air and the adoption of electric vehicles. We joined like-minded organisations to ask for the implementation of the Government’s own plan for faster adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles. Another landmark PIL was against illegal mining in Odisha which led to the imposition of a hundred percent penalty on mining without forest or environmental clearance. Yet another joint PIL sought relief against the implementation of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act which ostensibly glossed over safety and environmental concerns.

Many more Common Cause PILs have taken up the issues of accountability in the allocation and operations of captive coal blocks or for remedial action in the improper waste disposal, and malpractices regarding health and hygiene in the slaughterhouses. We at Common Cause believe that the issues

like climate change affect us all, but the poor are hit the hardest. It has a direct impact on agriculture, livelihoods, and food security. And that is why we need to act as watchdogs to sustainable management of our natural resources like the rivers, forests, and mountains. Our health, nutrition, and futures depend on them.

While global negotiations are crucial, a lot can be achieved through sensible domestic policies. Even small interventions and court rulings can lead to meaningful outcomes as is evident from Common Cause PILs. We must acknowledge that climate justice is not some nebulous idea out there but it is something that impacts all living beings. For starters, the citizens can demand transparency and accountability in the commissioning and implementation of all mega projects. We can also root for climate-smart policies locally which reduce hunger and poverty. When in doubt, our policymakers can always try Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of recalling the face of the poorest and the weakest person one has seen and ask how the policy being contemplated will impact him.

Do write in to us at commoncauseindia@gmail.com with your feedback or suggestions on this issue of your journal.

Vipul Mudgal

Editor

 

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