Kali River Pollution

Kali CampaignEnvironment support Group

www.esgindia.org

Kali River- Some FactsKali river • Located in the western Ghats,180 Kms

Long, Flows into Arabian sea the region has mixed evergreen and semi evergreen forests with Anshi National Park and Dandeli wildlife Sanctuary in the vicinity

• 6 Dams, proposal for 7th to generate 17 MW of electricity

• Illegal Sand mining• West Coast Paper Mills discharges

untreated toxic effluents into the river• Proposal to Link Bedthi and Varda rivers,

tributaries of kali under the Interlinking of rivers project

Supa Dam upstream of Kali

Tribal Communities of Kali Valley

Gowli Tribal Communities of Harnoda, Kariampalli practice agriculture, Cattle rearing, fishing activities and have been living there for centuries

One more Dam!• Proposal to build 7th Dam on Kali with

Fraudulent EIA despite Court Order not to build any more dams on Kali

• EIA –a plagiarized copy of another dam 100 kms away

• Public hearing process aggressive• District collector rejects EIA(By ERNST

& YOUNG) and orders Fresh EIA be done

• 2nd EIA (TERI) fraudulent with wrong data

• Project remains Cancelled

West Coast Paper Mills

•The West Coast Paper mills(WCPM) has been in Operation since 1959 under the Kolkata based Kumar Bangur Groups of Companies•Installed capacity 18,000 MTPA•2002-2003 Total Production 1,51,477 MTPA•2004-2005 Production of Paper, Paperboard and Duplex Board 1,73,070 MTPA•2005-2006 1,76,221 MTPA•Exported to various countries like Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Muscat, U.A.E., Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia

Production

Process• Raw Material• Chipping• Pulping• Bleaching• Additives• Removing Water• Final Product

Company Profits Vs Community Loss

Profits over the Years• 2004-2005-Reported Net

Profit (before Tax) Rs.5700.74 Lakhs

• 2005-2006- Rs.7811.26Lakhs

• Reserves and Surplus available with the company as of March 2006- Rs.172.4631 crores

• Work Force-4200 directly and Indirectly

Benefits to West Coast Paper mills

• Free raw material in initial years

• Free supply of kali River water

• Subsidized electricity• Forest Land to store raw

materials

Environmental violationsNon compliance with Environmental Regulations

• Production Quantities in excess of consented Capacity from 1998

• Overdrawing Water• Discharging Effluents in excess of what is

permitted(Consent for expansion from 85,500-163750

tpa) through a no increase in pollution load certificate)

• Release of untreated effluents into the River Kali

• Use of Forest Land for non forest activity.

• Impacts on communities• Polluted, toxic river • Surface wells, ground water contaminated• Failed Agriculture• Cattle deaths• Low fish catch, Mutated Fish• Health Impacts- Gynaecological problems

in women, neonatal deaths, Skin Infections, Gastroenteric diseases, Kidney malfunctions

• June 2003 – World Environment Day- Protest Rally in Bangalore

• Meeting with Minister for Industries, Chief Minister of State, Karnataka State pollution control Board demanding clean drinking water for the tribal villages

• September 2004 –WCPM Annual General Body Meeting, Protest rally in Dandeli, March into WCPM Campus, Demand Affected Voices be heard

• Company promises to deliver clean drinking water to villages through tankers

September 2004

2007- WCPM to Expand its Operations

• The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will provide a long-term loan of $40 million to fund the Karnataka-based West Coast Paper Mills Ltd’s modernisation and expansion plans.

• Part of the loan will fund the installation of a new chlorine-free fibre line to eliminate a major source of pollutants from pulping operations.

Expansion Plans….

• Expansion includes paper manufacturing capacity from 1,63,750 tonnes per annum (TPA) to 3,20,000 TPA, along with replacing the existing pulping line with a capacity of 300 tonnes per day (TPD) with a new fibre line of 800 TPD capacity.

• Expansion gets approval despite fears of further pollution of the river.

Pulp and Paper Facts• Producing pulp and paper casts a long ecological shadow

beyond its impacts on the world's forests. Converting trees into paper uses large amounts of water, energy and chemicals and can generate vast amounts of air and water pollution.

• The pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy, accounting for 4 percent of all the world's energy use.

• The pulp and paper industry uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.

• Consumers play a pivotal role in reshaping the future of the pulp and paper industry, 40 percent of office paper still ends up in overburdened landfills.

Pulp and Paper facts………• Expanding the reuse of paper reduces the

pressure to cut more trees, reduces demand on overburdened waste disposal systems and cuts energy use and pollution. One ton of recycled paper produces one ton of new paper, which is far more efficient than using virgin wood fiber.

• Annual plants such as flax and hemp are rapidly renewable resources which can contribute to more environmentally-sound fiber blends.

• Flax and hemp yield longer fibers and can assist in creating high quality paper when added to shorter fiber resources such as recycled office paper (post-consumer waste).

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -- Elie Wiesel