Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Sethusamudram Project: Another Name of Disaster (Part- II)

(In the first part we saw how flawed are the claimed benefits from Sethusamudram project. Now, we would examine the other effects of the project on our ecological as well as energy security.)
Disastrous for Ecology:
1. Due to the peaceful oceanic conditions of the Palk Straight, this area has provided numerous species a perfect flourishing flora and fauna. As according to Areeba Hamid, oceans campaigner of Greenpeace- India, Gulf of Mannar is home to 3,600 Schedule-I species. Schedule-I is a government document, which enlists the animals facing the danger of extinction (like tiger and black chinkara). The canal would prove to be a under water graveyard for most of these species once the suction pumps start scratching silt of about 48 million cubic meters.
2. National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), a 34- member advisory group of Sri Lankan professionals has put forward a report on the possible consequences of this project. According to this report, the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) would increase the water flow from the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf of Mannar, disturbing the inland water balance as well as the eco-systems in the Gulf. The group further says that sedimentation and silting possibilities, underwater ocean currents and increased turbidity have never been studied by NEERI. Moreover, NEERI never studied the possibility of a tsunami through the canal water flow.
Now let’s talk about what does NEERI stand for and what has been its role in the whole project. NEERI is the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur. NEERI has given its approval to SSCP on environmental grounds and the approval report is the only document SCL, the nodal agency entrusted with the work to complete the SSCP, has in its kitty to make a moral ground for the project. The approval report was based on raw data provided by S. Kathiroli, director of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (Niot). As it turns out, Kathiroli was also on the board of the Dredging Corp. of India (DCI) when he was director of Niot. After the project was approved, DCI got the contract for dredging the channel for the Rs2,600 crore project. In nutshell, Kathiroli was director of 2 units at the same time. One unit cleared a project and the other benefited from the clearance. Very interesting. But the drama doesn’t end here. According to Sudharshan Rodriguez, a Chennai based conservation analyst, the EIA report furnished by NEERI, has used secondary data (provided by Kathiroli) going back to 1976. And how genuine was the report based on such data? Here is an example, Kathiroli's report said there was no rock on the Ram Sethu and earlier this year, a dredger DCI Aquarius hit a rock bed and broke its spud.
Tsunami Theory
There has been much talk about what would have been the Tsunami’s impact on southern Kerala without Ram Sethu. "This physical bridge saved thousands of lives in 2004," says R. Gopalakrishnan, former GSI director. Geologists say there are active volcanoes and moving tectonic plates in the region. Mint (12-09-07)
Ecologists claim the bridge checks the rough seas of the Bay of Bengal to create a haven for marine life. Mariners argue the channel is a disaster management nightmare. If a ship runs aground, there is no system to extricate it and clear the channel. Mint (12-09-07)
The former chairman of International Tsunami Society and advisor of Indian Government on Tsunami, Tad Satyam Murty wrote that if another tsunami strikes, this channel would cause devastation on the Kerala coast: "In the 2004 tsunami, no significant amount of tsunami energy travelled to Kerala through the waters between India and Sri Lanka. The water had to take a wide turn around Sri Lanka. In this process, the water missed southern Kerala. However, if the Sethu Canal is widened and deepened, this will provide an alternative route for the Indonesian tsunamis to funnel energy into the channel. My recommendation was clear: the threat is real, realign the channel." But SCL didn’t find it necessary to incorporate his views while preparing for the project. Mint claims that N.K. Raghupathy, the former chairman of SCL who was asked to go on leave in July and was transferred from his post last week, says he had "taken Murty to lunch to hear out his concerns". The same event got confirmed in an interview of Tad Murty published on rediff dot com on 22nd June 2007.
Now, telling the reason why Mr. Tad Murthy’s opinion could not be sought over, the SCL’s official site says it could not get his e-mail address and hence could not enter into a dialogue with him on his expert opinion. Is not it ridiculous in this information era? I, myself, just put ‘Tad Satyam Murty’ in google search and got his complete address with his phone number and telefax number which is as follows: Dr Tad S. Murty. Adjunct Professor. University of Ottawa. 18 Upwood Street. OTTAWA, ON K1V 3Y6. Canada. Telephone: +1-613 739 5445. Telefax: +1-613 562 5173.
Destructive for Energy Security: Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) estimates that about 30 % of world’s thorium deposits, or about 225000 tons of thorium, are found on the beaches of Kerala. This will support about 387 years of electricity generation at 2030 capacity levels (estimated). India has been vigorously pursuing the technology to make electricity, using thorium. Hundreds of crores has been spent on the development of the fast breeder Thorium based nuclear reactors and now scientists claim the success is just a couple of years away. Mind you, this is the technology and this is the thorium reserve over which, a large section of scientists think that 123 agreement is not as vital as is publicised.
Now a large chunk of this thorium would be washed away if Ram Sethu is blasted. And almost all of it would be lost if another tsunami strikes the region.
Another big worry is about the millions of tonnes of sand that would be scratched out from the sea bed. Experts say SSCP lacks knowledge of the characteristics for about 60% of the soil and does not know where about 90% of the dredged soil will be placed. Two dredging ships have broken down so far underscoring the issue of the lack of knowledge of soil characteristics. So where will this millions of tonnes of thorium contaminated sand be dumped? We don’t know, and we assume even the government doesn’t know. But doesn’t it sound very much unlikely. So has some place already been finalised covertly to deposit this thorium? And just think, who would cheer the most if India loses all its thorium. After all, this is one of the properties over which we may dream of challenging the superpowers of the world.

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