CONFIRMING violations of environmental clearance conditions reported by The Indian Express last February, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set a four-month deadline for remedial actions and recovering damages from Kulda coal mine run by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) in Odisha and Tamnar thermal plant operated by Jindal Power Limited (JPL) in Chhattisgarh. On February 4, 2022, The Indian Express had reported on six mega projects where, between 2004 and 2020, stringent clearance conditions to compensate for the high environmental impact were sidestepped, ignored or met only on paper. These were Lower Subansiri and Dibang hydel projects in Arunachal Pradesh, the Ken-Betwa River Link in Madhya Pradesh, the Mopa international airport in Goa, the Kulda coal mine in Odisha and Tamnar thermal plant in Chhattisgarh. In its order on January 12, the NGT set a four-month deadline for Odisha and Chhattisgarh to: Reconstruct the Kulda-Tamnar road to check dust pollution immediately and recover the cost, if necessary, from MCL and JPL, proportionately, Determine and recover compensation on the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle for past violations from MCL and JPL, and Provide a timeline for setting up a conveyor belt and rail link to transport coal from Kulda to Tamnar. In March 2022, the NGT initiated proceedings in the matter taking suo motu cognisance of The Indian Express report on coal trucks plying through villages from Kulda to Tamnar even as three extensions to the Kulda mine and five temporary concessions to the Tamnar plant were granted since 2014 on promises of alternative coal transport arrangements. In multiple representations to various authorities over the years, people living in villages along the road that connects Kulda and Tamnar have complained of a spike in respiratory illness, and contamination of water bodies and cropland, leading to loss of productivity and blackening of vegetables and paddy. In July 2022, a joint committee constituted by the NGT to ascertain facts concluded that “the allegations made in the matter of media report regarding coal transportation by road… were substantiated.” The committee, which had a representative each from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), state PCBs of Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the regional office of the Environment ministry at Bhubaneshwar and district magistrates of Sundergarh (Odisha) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh), recorded daily movement of around 700 coal trucks through villages in the absence of a conveyor belt or rail link between Kulda and Tamnar. It underlined that poor road conditions increased “whole body vibrations of the coal transportation vehicles and spillage of coal dust resulting heavy fugitive road dust during plying of vehicles.” It confirmed violations of the environmental clearance conditions that barred “transportation of coal through road passing through any village” and required MCL to take legal undertakings from its coal consumers that they were “not using village road and passing through any sensitive location such as schools, hospitals etc.” Seeking an action taken report by the next hearing scheduled on May 15, the NGT directed the chief secretaries and heads of the state pollution control board of Odisha and Chhattisgarh to appear before the Tribunal if they fail to meet the deadline. Last February, the NGT had taken suo motu cognisance of the same report to open another two cases regarding the Dibang and Lower Subansiri hydel projects in Arunachal.
