Protest against asbestos factory

Protest against asbestos factory

Note: Th role of media in Bihar in reporting the protest against two asbestos  plants in Bihar's Bihiya in Bhojpur by Tamil Nadu based Ramco Industries near Mahatin Mai Temple and in Panapur, Vaishali by West Bengal based Utkal Asbestos Limited near a government run school in general has been unsatisfactory. The localisation of newspapers has ensured that what gets reported in Vaishali does not get reported in Bhojpur and vice versa. 

There is a deafening silence about the proposed plants by Andhra Pradesh based Hyderabad Industries Ltd for establishment of 2,50,000 MT per year capacity Asbestos Cement Sheeting Plant in two Phases at Kumarbagh Industrial Area, West Champaran and by Rajasthan based A Infrastructure Ltd for establishment of 1, 25, 000 MT per year capacity Asbestos Cement (A.C.) Sheet and 1,00,000 MT per year capacity A.C. Pressure Pipe at Pandaul Industrial Area, Madhubani.

Besides these Tamil Nadu based Nibhi Industries Pvt. Ltd’s has established 1,00,000 (One Lakh) MT Capacity Asbestos Fiber Cement Corrugated Sheet, Flat Sheet and Accessories and Light Weight Fly Ash Block Plant naming itself at Industrial Growth Centre, Giddha, Ara, Bhojpur behind Trident B-ed College. The faculty and the students who will study there will be under threat of asbestos exposure. This plant is now being run by Utkal Asbestos Limited on lease. 

Gopal Krishna

ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA)

Protest against asbestos factory

Villagers of Bihar’s Vaishali district took out a protest march in the State capital on Wednesday against an asbestos-based factory in Chaksultan Rampur Rajdhari.

Organised under the banner of Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Committee,they submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanding stoppage of work at the West Bengal-based company Utkal Asbestos. The villagers have been raising concerns of cancer and other health risks in light of the hazardous factory. Last June the district administration stayed the construction of the factory. However, work on the facility started again in December.

“In India, mining of asbestos is technically banned but its import from other countries is yet to be banned. Trade in asbestos (dust and fibers) is also banned. In the absence of environmental and occupational health infrastructure, the passivity of the State governments cannot be deemed acceptable given the fact that health is a State subject. The Bihar Government should take immediate steps to set a healthy precedent for all the other states, the Central Government and neighbouring countries,” a Press release stated.

RAHI GAIKWAD

PATNA
January 17, 2013

SUGGESTIONS INVITED ON RAPE//SEXUAL OFFENCES & CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2012

Rajya Sabha Secretarit has published a notice dated January 8, 2013 seeking suggestions on review of laws related to rape/sexual offences in the matter of The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 4, 2012. The suggestions can be sent latest by 28^th January, 2013.

The 16 page The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 is given here:

http://164.100.47.5/newcommittee/press_release/Press/Committee%20on%20Home%20Affairs/press%20release.doc

PRESS RELEASE

STANDING COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS INVITES SUGGESTIONS ON THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2012

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012  as  introduced in   the  Lok  Sabha   on  4 December 2012  and  pending  therein,  has  been  referred  to  Department-related   Parliamentary  Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, M.P. Rajya Sabha for examination and report. The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 to review laws related to rape/sexual offences. 

2.         The Committee has decided to invite suggestions in the form of written memoranda from the public/associations/women organizations/civil societies, etc, on the provisions of the Bill.

3.         Those desirous of submitting written memoranda to the Committee, may send the same   to Shri D. K. Mishra, Joint Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 142, First Floor, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi-110001 {Tele: 23035410 (O) and 23012007 (fax)} latest by 28^th January, 2013.

4.         The memorandum which might be submitted to the Committee, would form part of its records and treated as confidential and, therefore, should not be printed, circulated or publicized by anyone, as such an act would constitute a breach of privilege of the Committee.

5.         Individuals/stakeholders may obtain, on written request, a copy of the Bill, from Shri Bhupendra Bhaskar, Assistant Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Cabin ‘A’, Basement, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi-110001 (Telephone No. 011-23034034). The electronic text of the Bill can also be down loaded from the Rajya Sabha Website www.rajyasabha.nic.in. ® Bills with Committees.

Website:- http://rajyasabha.nic.in         
E-mail:  rsc-ha@sansad.nic.in          

Foreign Funding of Political Parties, Delhi High Court asks Centre and ECI to respond

A bench of Delhi High Court comprising of justices Sanjay Kishen Kaul and Indermeet Kaur today, on 10th of January 2013, heard the arguments 

of a PIL that has alleged that the two political parties namely Indian National Congress (INC) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)have violated the 

Representation of People’s Act (RPA) 1951 and Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by taking donations from government companies 

and foreign sources, which is prohibited under both the legislations.

Petitioners of the PIL

a) Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)

b) Dr. EAS Sarma, former secretary to the Government of India

Grounds of the PIL

a) INC and the BJP have violated Section 29B of the Representation of People’s Act 1951, which categorically prohibits them to take donations from government companies and from any foreign source

b) The donation of huge sums of money made by the Vedanta Group (being a foreign company) to major political parties like INC and BJP is in clear violation of the FCR Act of 1976 and the FCR Act of 2010.

c) The donation of huge sums of money by the public sector undertakings (who are also State within Article 12 of the Constitution) to the political parties is in violation of Section 293A of the Companies Act.

BJP and INC have confessed to the foreign funding

Both BJP and INC have themselves declared, in their annual contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI), that they have received funding from the Vedanta Group, which is a foreign company listed on London Stock Exchange under the name “Vedanta Resources PLC”.

Court has asked Centre and ECI

After hearing the petitioners, Delhi High Court has asked the Central Government (Home Ministry) and Election Commission of India (ECI) to file their responses within 2 weeks. Court has also said that the two political parties, INC and BJP, will be called upon to respond only after going through the responses of the Home Ministry and ECI. The next date of hearing in the matter has been set as 4th February 2013.

Villagers to protest before Bihar Chief Minister against hazardous asbestos plant

In order to seek direct invention of Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar in this matter of hazardous asbestos plant in Mahuwa, Vaishali to save their land and livelihood, villagers have planned to demonstrate before CM on January 16, 2013 in Patna. 

With regard to the asbestos company making ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) convener, Gopal Krishna the prime accused in the case of demolition of asbestos factory in Vaishali on December 16, 2013. Incidentally, Gopal Krishna was present in two public events on December 16, 2013 during day time and at night in New Delhi which is properly documented. Companies have mastered the art of lodging fake FIRs with impunity. This is yet another case of a strategic litigation against a public interest person (SLAPP) to silence him.    

People protest setting up of asbestos plant in Hajipur

Ransack unit, alleging the Utkal Asbestos Limited made false promises to them

Residents say UAL had shown fertile agricultural land as barren in the environment impact assessment report (photo by Prashant Ravi)

Angered by a series of lies told by an asbestos manufacturing company, residents of 10 villages in Hajipur, headquarters of Vaishali district in Bihar, ransacked Utkal Asbestos Limited’s (UAL’s) under-construction plant on Sunday.

Around 1,200 people alleged that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report, land purchase agreement and even the FIR lodged against them for protesting these, were lies. Raj Kishore Rai, along with a group of protestors, listed a number of fake promises made by the company management.

Rai said UAL, which has its head office in Odisha, purchased land after promising people to set up an agro-medicine unit there. This did not happen. To their horror, the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report mentioned the fertile land as barren. UAL had promised people that the unit would not become operational till a solution to these were found through a tripartite negotiation between people, administration and the company. This, too, did not take place.

“In the last few months, we witnessed construction inside of the asbestos unit on a large scale. We tried to talk to UAL authorities, but they refused. This angered the people,” Rai said. On Sunday, they protested outside the company gate hoping that senior officials will give in to pressure and hold the promised meeting. But the UAL authorities refused to even speak to the protestors. Tension escalated and people ransacked the upcoming unit, resulting in total loss of Rs 80 lakhs and closure of important roads for around 11 hours.

Police and district administration decided not to take action because the crowd was huge. Later, Rajkishore along with Gopal Krishna, convener of Delhi-based Toxics Watch Alliance, and 35 others were named in the police FIR lodged by Sunil Kumar, assistant general manager of UAL, Bihar. In the FIR, Kumar alleged that he saw Gopal Krishna leading people inside the company premises and ordering them to ransack it. Krishna claimed he was not in Bihar at that time.

A senior UAL officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “We are taking stock of the loss and negotiating with the district administration”. Meanwhile, the district administration has asked the company to stop work for a month till an agreement is reached. “We will try to resolve the issue between the UAL and people,” Jitendra Srivastava, the district magistrate said. A heavy contingent of police has been deputed near the company site.

Alok Gupta, Down To Earth 

Award on behalf of TATA MOTORS, fraudulent or genuine?

Following conversation with Ms Anu of TATA MOTORS, Jamshedpur office on phone no. 0657-6450112 and Mr Dipak of TATA MOTORS, Ranchi office on phone no. 0651- 6450154, it has come to light that the advertisement in Hindustan, a newspaper dated January 6, 2013 on page no. 14 in Bhojpur edition about a picture identification competition appears questionable and dubious. The scanned copy of the advertisement is given below: 

At 10.28 AM, January 11, 2012, there was a call from 07782059087 of Prakash Verma who introduced himself as someone speaking on behalf of Tata Motors. When he was confronted with which advertisement promoting the product of the competitor of Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki Alto. He was speechless and he said he will ask him Madam Soni to explain. When confronted with the statement of Ms Anu of TATA MOTORS, Jamshedpur office who said the award is fake and fraudulent. He had no answers.

At 10.35, January 11, 2012 there was a call from 8229029338 of Sanjay Kumar who said he was speaking from Tata Motors, Guwahati. He also failed to explain the genuineness of the award. 
  
At 8.24 AM on January 10, 2012, there was a call from 8227810638 of Anil Agarwal who introduced himself as the ADG of the Face to Face Contest of Tata Motors. He explained that his staff members goofed up in explaining the procedure. He attempted to provide convincing arguments about the genuineness of the contest, advertisement and the award. His tone and tenor of engagement was sounded more sophisticated than the previous callers. But he could not provide convincing response to the question as to why a contest which is meant to promote the cars of Tata Motors is advertising Maruti Suzuki's Alto car, which is its competitor. He said that it was the mistake of the advertisement agency that was hired to put the advertisement. On behalf of Himanshu Pandey it was argued that the genuineness of the contest, advertisement and award can only be established if the same is communicated in writing.          

Earlier, heated arguments on January 9, 2012 with Nirmal Raj, Anil Prasad, Shriram Kumar and Ranjit Sinha made these so-called officials of Tata Motors reveal their SBI Account no.s to convince that they are not fake. Their account numbers are as under: 32582042291, 32555652764, 32555655548, 32501183497 respectively.     

It all began with a phone call from Manisha who claimed to be speaking on behalf of TATA Motors on January 8, 2013) from her number 9661407183 to inform Himanshu Pandey who had responded to an advertisement in Hindustan, a newspaper dated January 6, 2013 on page no. 14 in Bhojpur edition, Bihar that he is the second winner in a picture identification competition. He got the call on his no. 9546903977. 

He was informed by the lady that he has won the second prize in a competition where there were three awards. As per the advertisement, the first award was Tata Safari, The second award was Alto, The third award is Nano. She introduced herself as representing TATA Motors company, Jamshedpur. She asked him that if he wants to claim the award, he should deposit Rs 3500 for registration and if he wants to claim the money deposit Rs 2500 for registration in the SBI Bank Account no. 32582042291 of Nirmal Raj on January 8, 2013. The advertisement in Hindustan, a newspaper dated January 6, 2013 on page no. 14 in Bhojpur edition, Bihar had given following three phone numbers: 09931880115, 09931882369, 08757134081. Later, it was told that second prize was Indica. 

When a call was made on 09931880115, one Manoj Verma informed that the advertisement was placed on behalf of TATA MOTORS. A call on 9931882369 to Rohit confirmed that the the advertisement was placed on behalf of TATA MOTOTRS. But they were representing Guwahati branch.   

The SBI account mentioned above is that of Nirmal Raj, the junior manager with TATA MOTORs. This was revealed by Nirmal Raj when a call was made on his number 9572096564. He has confirmed that the advertisement and award is genuine. He informed that he also spoke to his senior manager Sanjay Chaudhary in this regard. But they did not share their contact address and their email id. So far there has been no written communication from their end although prior to the transfer of Rs 3500 they had promised that they will provide written information about it. 

In pursuance of this conversation, a transfer of Rs 3500 in the SBI Bank Account no. 32582042291 of Nirmal Raj was done on January 8, 2013 for registration on behalf of Himanshu Pandey.

Ms Anu of TATA MOTORS, Jamshedpur confirmed that there was no employee by the name of Nirmal Raj, Manisha and Sanjay Chaudhary in Jamshedpur. TATA MOTORS must put these SBI Bank Account no. 32582042291 under scanner in cooperation with SBI. And if they are fake it should ensure that the money is returned those who have been cheated and suitable penal action initiated against these culprits. Else TATA MOTORS must issue a clarification statement about the genuineness of the advertisement and the award and ensure that things are set right if the contest and the award has come under cloud as an outcome of communication failure.

Last updated at 10.40 AM, January 11, 2012

नदी जोड़ो परियोजना नदी हत्या परियोजना है

नदी सिर्फ पानी का पाइप लाइन नहीं है जिसे नदी जोड़ने के नाम पर तोड़-मरोड़ कर उलटी गंगा बहाई जाये। जल चक्र को मेट्रिक से पहले ही पढ़ाया जाता है। जल चक्र को याद रखे। नदियों का पानी समुद्र में जाकर वापस लौट आता है। सागर से जो बादल बनकर उठता है उसी से तो नदी और अन्य जल स्रोतों का निर्माण होता है। केंद्र का हो या मध्य प्रदेश का या बिहार का या अन्य राज्य का, नदी जोड़ो परियोजना नदी हत्या परियोजना है। बिहार में आठ नदियों को जोड़ने की योजना है। इसमें सबसे पहले कोसी-मेची को जोड़ने के क्रम में कदम उठाये जा रहे है।  इसमें से छह का प्री-फिसिबिलिटी रिपोर्ट भी तैयार हो गया है। कोसी-मेची में अलावा बाढ़-नवादा, कोहरा-लालबेगी, बुढ़ी गंडक-नोन-बाया-गंगा, बुढ़ी गंडक-बागमती (बेल्वाधार) और कोसी-गंगा शामिल है। इसका पुरजोर विरोध होना चाहिए। नदी हत्या का दोष सरकार और उसके समर्थको पर ही लगेंगा।   

गोपाल कृष्ण
टॉक्सिक्सवाच अलायन्स