WIO has been repeatedly asking the state government not to
give away scarce water resources to industries blindly; now the CAG says it
Water Initiatives
Odisha (WIO) has just got hold of the letter of the Comptroller &
Auditor General (CAG) to the State Govt. of Odisha’s Department of Steel
& Mines, in which it clearly mentions how the government has been blindly
signing MoUs with steel and mining companies and committing to give away
precious natural resources of the state without following due diligence and
without making any proper assessment of the availability of natural resources
to be used by these industries.
MoUs signed, resources not taken into account - In
the report dated 11th December 2012 with respect to
‘Performance Audit of ‘Commitments made in the MoUs for setting up of
industries in the State and acquisition/allotment of land thereof’, the CAG has
slammed the government for ‘signing of
MoUs making commitments to provide
land, water and minerals without
any prescribed guideline, feasibility
study and inadequate
monitoring thereof’.
The CAG letter says
that, “We observed that out of total 93 MoUs signed by Government, Steel and
Mines Department has signed 49 MoUs with different promoters for setting of
steel and mines industries in the State and land was allotted in favour of 34
promoters. But, no policy/guidelines for assessing the need as well as other
inputs like land, water, minerals etc… attracting entrepreneurs to the State
thro-ugh open competitive bidding etc, signing of MOUs with promoter companies
for setting up industries in the State was formulated. Pre-requisites for signing of MOUs was also
not prescribed. Besides, monitoring mechanism on implementation of various
commitments by both State Government and Private promoter made in these MoUs
was also not prescribed”.
Constitution’s Doctrine of Equality violated - The
CAG has raised serious issues with regard to competitive bidding and has pointed
out that “ Article 14 of the Constitution of India on ‘Doctrine of Equality’
was violated by entering MoUs based on suo-moto offers instead of on
competitive bidding process.” These
are serious allegations and exposes the blind push for industrialization by
profiting private companies at any cost.
Water, a source of livelihood for farmers; not merely
a raw material for industrial production - WIO would especially like
to draw the notice of the State Government on the remarks of the CAG when they
say, “Land, water, minerals being finite and scarce resources its need based
allotment to different promoters of industries is required to be made keeping
in mind requirements for future”. The
CAG have rightly pointed out that, “these natural resources are not factors of
production for industrial growth but also
for agricultural production on which the food security of the country
rests, and these also had impact on sustainability of the environment and
sustenance of livelihood of the citizens”. The CAG letter points out that, “It
was noticed from the minutes of 12 HLCA meeting held on 27 January 2010 that,
as against availability of 1805.81 MT of total Bauxite in the State, the
Department in different MoUs had already committed for supplying 74.61 MT of
bauxite per annum for which the entire bauxite reserve of the state would be
exhausted in next 24 years.” This
is another serious allegation and shows how the state government is actually
planning to exhaust the common property resources of the state for quick profit
of the private companies at the cost of the people and the ecology, WIO alleges.
State urged to stop diverting irrigation water to
industries with immediate effect; and scrap excessive and illegal MoUs with
industries - The CAG letter further says, “It is also pertinent to mention
here that as per executive instruction
no. 5 of LA Manual it is the
duty of the
Collector to select
the land for the
requisitioning department. Further, as
per clause 9.11
of JPR 2007, ‘all efforts
shall be made
to avoid double cropped
agricultural land and minimize R&R
requirement. It was further noticed
that in respect of 49 MoUs signed by the Department, commitment for providing 59333.601
acres of land was made without any exercise to scrutinise the land category(whether
Agricultural. Irrigated, double cropped etc.) and even without consulting the
RDM Department. Water Resources Department, Agriculture Department and concerned
Collectors. This is indicative of the fact that the department has signed MoUs
with promoters of industries and made commitments without assessing the actual
availability of land, water, minerals.” This explains how the Govt. of
Odisha neglects the interests of farmers and irrigation. WIO has been
repeatedly asking the government to stop allocating water meant for irrigation
to industries’. Now that the CAG has
slammed the government on these aspects, we hope the government will wake up to
the allegations and take immediate corrective measures.
Come clean, state the state of affairs - WIO
has been asking the government to make public a status report of available
water resources in the state considering present and future uses and factors
impacting the availability, use and abuse of the resources in times to
come. However, the government has not
paid heed to such serious and genuine concerns.
We have also said how Odisha has in fact already become a water stressed
state and the blind industrialization through water guzzling industries and
mining activities is driving the state to severe water scarcity. Now that the CAG has slammed the
government on these lines, we urge upon the state to take our warnings
seriously and consider arresting the blind push for water guzzling
industrialisation.
WIO asks state to promote irrigation and consider
ecological restoration of water bodies including rivers - We demand
that the state government goes for an immediate assessment of water resources
and other natural resources of the state; do an cumulative ecological impact
assessment of all the existing industries and then only go for new industries
if at all these are needed. We also once
again urge upon the government to stop diverting water from irrigation and
other sectors to industries; promote irrigation and consider ecological
restoration of water bodies including rivers, ponds, tanks and other water
systems of the state, said Panda.
For further
information, please contact:
Ranjan Panda
Convenor, Water
Initiatives Odisha (WIO)
Cell:
+91-9437050103
========
Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) is a state level coalition of
civil society organisations, farmers, academia, media and other concerned,
which has been working on water, environment and climate change issues in the
state for more than two decades now.
The issue needs immediate attention of all concerned.It is very well written and gives a clear picture about the state of affairs in the state. Hope the discussion leads to some concrete steps by the state to reflect upon and make necessary changes in its approach towards industrialization.
ReplyDeleteThanks Saswati.
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