Dishonest dealings

"MOST of the basic norms were flouted or bypassed (in the case of the Sterlite copper unit in Ratnagiri)," says Rashmi Mayur, who headed a committee instituted by the government to look into the environmental impact of the plant.

According to Mayur, when the panchayat of Sheregaon village, on whose land the plant was to be set up, refused to give permission to the project, a new ordinance saying that only the approval of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation was mandatory for such construction was promulgated. And alleges Sheregaon sarpanch Fazal Master, "To get the fisherfolk to vacate their villages, a blind eye is being turned towards their cries of help as sea advances towards their homes every day."

Environmentalists charge the state government of nefarious dealings in other cases, too. The groups protesting against the Enron power project in Dabhol claim that the Maharashtra State Electricity Board has promised to buy electricity from that company at rates higher than prevailing. They allege that the figures for sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions in the project report are fudged.