Hopes to save a small reservoir, at the centre of a controversy in Gujarat, have been revived as the ministry of environment and forests have slapped a show-cause notice on the Nirma group which plans to set up a cement factory at the site of the water body.

MoEF’s notice dated March 11, asking the company why the environment clearance (EC) for the project should not be revoked, has come as a boost in the arms for farmers of Padhiyarka village of Mahuva taluka in Bhavnagar district who along with other villagers of the region and civil society activists from across the state have been protesting peacefully for close to three years.

They have alleged that 222 hectares out of 268 hectares allotted by the state government to the company cover a water body which is crucial to the flourishing agriculture in the region, and the cement factory would destroy their farming, besides causing irreparable damage to the environment.

Supported by leading Gandhians as well as the local legislator of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the non-violent protesters have filed a petition before the supreme court as the company has refused to dilute its stance in carry on negotiations with them. The state government too has refused to listen to their demands.

In January, the farmers made representations before environment minister Jairam Ramesh. Later the MoEF constituted an expert committee to examine the matter. The committee in its report submitted in February concluded that though on revenue records the area in contention was represented as a wasteland, it was actually a wetland and, therefore, there could be alternative sites enough in the vicinity that invited no contention. 

The MoEF has accepted the conclusions reached by the committee, leading to the show-cause notice, which was issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Admonishing Nirma, the MoEF said its earlier EC, granted in December 2008, was based on half truths presented before it by the company.

The company plans to set up a cement plant with a capacity of 1.91 MTPA, a coke oven plant with a capacity of 1.5 LTPA and a captive power plant with a capacity of 50 MW.

The project, conceived during an earlier edition of Vibrant Gujarat, has been controversial right from the start.

Whenever the farmers, supported by civil society, tried to take out peaceful demonstrations against the decision, the state allegedly came down heavily on them with a brute force.
 
The protests nevertheless have continued, and currently the farmers are carrying out a 15-day padayatra from Mahuva to state capital Gandhinagar.
 
“Though the MoEF’s order has come as a huge relief to us, our protests will continue till the allotment is cancelled,” said Sagar Rabari of Gujarat Lok Samiti, the organisation supporting the farmer’s agitation.

Read a previous report on the agitation here
Read a comment on the agitation here
Access the MoEF notice here