PALGHAR & KEVLE (THANE), Nov 6: A massive demonstration was held here today against the proposed thermal power project at Kelve village in Thane district. The farmers and fishermen in the area fear that the project will put their livelihoods at stake. More than 10,000 people from nearly 25 villages around Palghar participated in the morcha organised by the Environmental Vigilance Committee (EVC). The morcha started at around 9.30 am at Laxminarayan Mandir and agitators demonstrated outside the tahsildar's office demanding immediate scrapping of the project.People fear that over-burdening the taluk with too many industrial projects will seriously damage the socio-economic condition of Palghar. Around 400 chemical factories and heavy engineering units under MIDC function here.The Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) plans to set up two 500 MW unit thermal plants at Kelve. Hiren Patil, president of EVC told The Indian Express that the project would affect the economic prosperity of the taluk, known for its betel-leaves, bananas, chikoos and coconuts.According to Patil, BSES' decision has been giving sleepless nights to the 15,000 fishing families in the village. Already, fishing in and around the Palghar coast has been alarmingly affected and catch has reduced to a minimum due to the release of untreated effluents from the chemical industries in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) at Palghar.``Sometimes tons of dead fish surface in the coastal waters due to the high contamination of the sea water,'' said Tandel, another EVC activist.The pollution has also reduced the fishing season to three months. Poornima Mehr, convenor of fisherwomen forum said, ``The Dahanu thermal plant set up by BSES has caused severe damage to marine life. Within 10 years many rare species of fishes have become extinct. There is also a perceptible climatic change in the area. The average rainfall has come down. The weather is becoming hotter,'' she added. The agriculturists in the area say that these projects would also affect the horticulture business in the area. Horticulture is sensitive to even slight climatic variations and the projects may cause irreparable damage to it, they fear.Besides, EVC activists point out that neither the State Government nor the BSES has shown any respect to the environmental guidelines set by the National Energy and Environmental Research Institute (NEERI). A litigation filed on this issue is still pending in the Supreme Court. BSES authorities, on the other hand, say that their project would help in the social upliftment of the area. Residents, however, dismiss the very idea saying that the tribals, who constitute 70 percent of the population, are one of the most progressive communities. Poornima said, ``We are not opposed to developmental projects. We only want to ask the government why it is pushing so many of them into this green belt.''Today's agitation is the first of its kind in which environmental activists and fishermen joined hands to fight for a common cause.
