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Journalism of Courage
Sternly reminding corporate behemoth Reliance Industries of the importance of social responsibility and environmental concern,a division bench of the Madras High Court asked the company to first assess the impact of its natural gas project on the local population and environment.
Disposing of a public interest writ petition moved by MS Saj Kumar of Yanam,a region falling under Andra Pradesh under the administrative control of Pondicherry Union Territory,the bench directed Reliance Industries to prepare an environment management plan that should be approved by experts. The UT administration must ask for and obtain an impact report from the expert bodies,it added.
The petitioner had alleged that the project to establish a block valve station and pipeline on the Godavari basin in Dariyalatippu village in Adavipulam in Yanam will affect the livelihood of fishermen there and the local environment.
The attitude of the RIL disturbs us. We expect the RIL to have greater social responsibility. If an environmental disaster strikes,it would strike the mighty and the weak equally. We do not understand why RIL should have commenced the production and then obtained the approval, said the bench,ordering that the government should set up necessary infrastructure to conduct periodical surveys and enforce the stipulations,subject to which the permit might be granted.
However,before granting approval,the government should ask Reliance to publish its proposal so that the public,particularly those likely to be affected by the project,were made aware of it to ensure transparency. On a critical note,the bench added that this would at least safeguard against the decision of the government based solely upon narrow political objectives.
