World Bank arm to relook at its investment in Tata Power’s project in Kutch

The IFC’s compliance adviser ombudsman’s (CAO) announcement has come after the local fishing community rejected continuing dialogue with the company,who they alleged “deliberately excluded” them from the social impact assessments during the project’s initial stages. The CAO began assessing the project in June last year,and a team made its first visit in mid-August.

“After a series of meetings and discussions with the CAO’s dispute resolution team,the complainants decided against a collaborative process and requested that the complaint be transferred to CAO’s compliance function to appraise whether an audit of IFC’s handling of its investment in the project is merited,” the CAO said in its assessment report.

The fishermen,united under the banner of Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (MASS),called the ombudsman’s assessment of their complaints “disappointing”. In June last year,four fishermen had written to the CAO alleging the community’s livelihood may be threatened and their fishing activities inconvenienced by the project’s infrastructure.

They complained that an additional 7-km walk was added to each outing to the fishing ground because of the plant’s intake and outfall channels,which carry water to and from the sea to cool the plant. They also alleged that hot water from the plant’s cooling systems would adversely affect the marine life,and fly ash from its chimneys would ruin the fish fishermen traditionally dry in the open.

During the course of the assessment,Tata told the CAO that the families of Tragadi village,to which the fishermen belong,have been given Rs 1 lakh each in compensation. The company also said fly ash would not ruin the drying fish because of a “technical solution to contain ash and coal dust” it has adopted,including a 275-metre tall chimney.

Tata,however,sought to absolve itself from the fishermen’s main complaint that their community was overlooked by the social impact assessment.

“The company highlights that the SEIA (Social and Environment Impact Assessment) was carried out before Tata Power was involved in the project,and maintains that they have fulfilled all requirements set out in the SEIA,” the CAO’s assessment said.

Tata Power blames rivals

In an e-mailed reply to this newspaper,a spokesperson from Tata Power said: “CGPL wishes to clarify that the core issues raised by MASS to IFC are not specific to Mundra UMPP and relate to certain generic issues concerning the coastline of Gujarat. We have applied due diligence on all aspects of the project. We are not aware of MASS’s current stand on this issue. CGPL shares a very healthy relationship with its local community and continues to work with them on various platforms and multiple community development initiatives.”