Legacy of Ishwari Prasad, a noted supporter of asbestos free Bihar movement will remain alive
Prof. Ishwari Prasad, noted economist from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) used to argue against the externalization of health costs due to hazardous industries like asbestos industry. He said, “We cannot wait for studies and counting of dead bodies for government to act. The global evidence is incontrovertible” at the Conference on Environmental and Occupational Health in the presence of Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council on December 24, 2012. He signed the Patna
Declaration seeking environmental, occupational health infrastructure
and prohibition on all forms of asbestos based products amidst
anti-asbestos protest by villagers. He was addressing Collegium Ramazzini Round Table on Environmental and Occupational Diseases as part of the conference. 
Prof.
Ishwari Prasad left his mortal frame on December 28, 2023 at the age of
89 years in Patna. He is survived by Usha Prasad, his daugther and
sons.
In an article in Prabhat Khabar, Prof. Ishwari Prasad had warned the government of Singur like unrest in Bihar if the proposed six asbestos plants at Goraul, Vaishali, Giddha, Koilwar, Bhojpur, Kumarbagh Industrial Area, West Champaran, Pandaul, Madhubani and
Bihiya, Bhojpur by Utkal Asbestos Ltd, Nibhi company, Hyderabad
Industries, A Infrastructure Ltd and Ramco company respectively are not stopped. His intervention, the struggle of villagers of Vaishali’s Chaksultan Rampur Rajdhari near Panapur in Kanhauli Dhanraj Panchayat in Goraul block and the street protest by Patna Asbestos Virodhi Nagrik Manch, Left and socialist parties on January 16, 2012 against asbestos based plants had a positive impact.
(Photo:Prof Ishwari Prasad, former Professor, JNU and Dr. Barry Castleman, former consultant, World Health Organisation, and author of Asbestos: Medical and legal aspects)
Subsequent to the conference, Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met the leaders of ban asbestos movement
led by Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Committee (KBJBJC) and
the leaders of left and socialist parties at his residence at 1, Anne Marg in Patna in the evening hours of February 13, 2013. Chief Minister promised that he will ‘puncture’
construction of asbestos factories in the State. Bihar Chief Minister
expressed outrage at the granting of ‘No Objection Certificate’ by Bihar
State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) to hazardous asbestos based
factories in fertile agricultural lands. He phoned
Chairman, BSPCB and fixed an appointment for the villagers of Vaishali
and expressed his disapproval for asbestos based factories to him. Villagers met the Chairman, BSPCB. BSPCB’s Chairman
spoke to District Magistrate, Vaishali and assured the villagers of
necessary action for cancelling the approval given to the asbestos
company’s plant.
Following Chief Minister’s intervention Bihar’s State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) and the State Cabinet disapproved all the asbestos based industrial projects and rescinded these approvals except the one at Bihiya, Bhojpur where two units of Tamil Nadu based Ramco company’s plant was already constructed.
The villagers have been protesting against these units which have been found by BSPCB to be operating in violation of specific environmental laws. It
has been violating Supreme Court’s verdict dated 27 January 1995 which
paved the way for adoption of occupational health surveillance under
the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Guidance Manual-Asbestos Based
Industries by the Union government. Besides these laws and the Court’s
order, the company is in violation of the three Schedules under
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code 2020
which refer to hazardous asbestos mineral fiber and asbestosis, an
incurable disease.
BSPCB
has a consistent position against these two units of Ramco company’s
hazardous asbestos plants pursuant to which Vivek Kumar Singh, as
Chairman, BSPCB cancelled the Non-Objection Certificates (NOCs) given to
the hazardous enterprise of Ramco company under Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981 and Rules 3 (1), Schedule 1 of Hazardous Waste
(Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules under
Environment (Protection) Act 1986. These Rules deal with hazardous
wastes generated during the production of asbestos or
asbestos-containing materials including asbestos-containing residues,
discarded asbestos and dust/particulates from exhaust gas treatment.
Following
the cancellation of NOCs, the company approached the Appellate
Authority to appeal against the cancellation. At the time of their
appeal the Appellate Authority happened to be Vivek Kumar Singh himself
who as Chairman, Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) had
cancelled their NOCs. The company used this apparent violation of the
principle of natural justice as a ground to seek relief from the Patna
High Court. It got the relief. Instead of confirming its order asking
the State government to rectify the error by appointing a person as
Appellate Authority in compliance with the principle of natural justice
and unmindful of the fact that the fact of violation of environmental
laws has not been disputed, the High Court allowed the company to
operate its plant. But now that the Appellate Authority has been changed
as per Court's directions and the error has been rectified and now the
High Court has asked the Chairman, BSPCB to act after examining the
complaint against it, the matter is before you.
BSPCB's
legal action could not become effective because of the order of a
single judge bench of Patna High Court on the limited ground of
violation of natural justice. The order of Justice Jyoti Sharan dated 30
March, 2017 had directed the Chief Secretary, State of Bihar to rectify
the error of Chairman of the BSPCB and the Appellate Authority being
the same person.
(Source: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/64804529/
It
is a fact that the Court’s order did not dispute the finding of the
Board with regard to violation of the environmental laws. It did not
dispute that as asbestos and asbestos based industries are heavily
polluting and have been categorised as R24 in the Red Category. (Source: http://bspcb.bih.nic.in/Categorization_10.10.18_new.pdf)
Subsequently,
a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justices Ajay Kumar
Tripathi and Niku Agrawal passed another order modifying the previous
order in the Bihar State Pollution Control Board v. Ramco Industries Ltd.
on 30 April, 2018 (Letters Patent Appeal No.873 of 2017 In Civil Writ
Jurisdiction Case No. 421 of 2017. The order authored by Justice
Tripathi reads: "Since Mr. Vivek Kumar Singh no longer happens to be the
Chairman of the Bihar State Pollution Control Board, therefore, one of
the reasons provided by the learned Single Judge for interfering with
the order no longer holds good. It is left open to the new Chairman of
Bihar State Pollution Control Board to pass a fresh order in accordance
with law after hearing the parties." Source: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/85967218/
The
legal action taken by the BSPCB against the asbestos based factories of
Ramco Industries Limited is praiseworthy. As a follow up of BSPCB’s
previous action in this regard, there is a need to address the public
health crisis as a consequence of ongoing unscientific and illegal
disposal of hazardous and carcinogenic asbestos waste. The violation of
all the general and specific conditions laid down in the NOC given by
the BSPCB and the environmental clearance given by the Experts Appraisal
Committee of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate
Change by the company's factories in question is crying for attention.
The following news broadcasts have captures the situation in Bihiya, Bhojpur-
1. Ramco Company: सरकार के साथ साथ दे रही जनता को धोखा, 2. रामको कंपनी ने बिहिया को बनाया डस्टबिन, 3.Asbestos के Sale व Use को Bihar में अब रोक दीजिए Nitish जी, नहीं तो बच्चे ऐसे ही सो जाते रहेंगे, and
4. Buying Asbestos is buying Cancer: Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council
The following methods in disposing of asbestos waste (dust and fibers) by the company in question has been noticed at the site of both the units of Ramco company:
1.
Using excavators the broken sheets are crushed and buried deep inside
factory premises. The broken pieces pose a grave threat to the ground
water shared by fertile agricultural land and villagers who use it for
drinking purposes.
2.
Since there is no space to bury the asbestos waste and broken asbestos
products are sold to fictitious or known dealers on ex- factory basis
to discard the company's responsibility for disposal. Normally, the
destination of such disposal will be in remote locations and buried on
fertile lands or used for land filling and covered by sand permanently.
It seems to be a corporate crime but logical from the company's
perspective as no one will pay 4 times the cost for transportation for a
zero value material.
3.
The broken ast based sheets are cut inside the factory into
unmarketable sizes like 1 meter length and gifted as CSR activities. The
cutting process emits a lot of asbestos dust and fibers harmful for the
workers and villagers.
4.
Broken asbestos sheets and wastes during transit handling or from
customer end are brought to depot at various locations to harden top
soil or land filling which again poses a threat to groundwater. Cutting
broken bigger asbestos sheets also pose danger as asbestos fibers
become airborne.
5.
Wherever cement is handled in bags inside the factory it creates
occupational hazard for workers due to asbestos dust particles. This is a
threat to villagers as well because the air quality in the area gets
polluted.
6.
Ramco Industries Limited has been donating asbestos based roofs to the
nearby Mahtin Mai temple and to the parking space of the District
Magistrate's office as an exercise in ethical positioning of its
brand and as a public relations exercise. The villagers, temple devotees
and the district administration have been taken for a ride. They have
acted in complete ignorance of the Board's action against Ramco's
factories.
The
stance of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has declared in the State
Assembly that Bihar Government will not allow construction of
carcinogenic asbestos factories in the state on 1st July, 2019 is worthy
of appreciation. This announcement and the verdict by the Italian Court vindicates the anti-asbestos struggle by villagers of Bhojpur. 
BSPCB's action with regard to carcinogenic white chrysotile asbestos
mineral fiber has been consistent with what is published on National
Health Portal (NHP), Centre for Health Informatics (CHI), National
Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. The National Health Portal
states that “All forms of asbestos (chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite,
tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite) are in use because of their
extraordinary tensile strength, poor heat conduction, and relative
resistance to chemical attack. Chemically, asbestos minerals are
silicate compounds, meaning they contain atoms of silicon and oxygen in
their molecular structure. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to
humans. Exposure to asbestos (including chrysotile) causes cancer of the
lung, larynx, and ovaries, and also mesothelioma (a cancer of the
pleural and peritoneal linings).” The asbestos exposure is also
responsible for other diseases such as asbestosis (fibrosis of the
lungs), and plaques, thickening and effusion in the pleura.” It
observes that “Exposure to asbestos occurs through inhalation of fibers
in air in the working environment, ambient air in the vicinity of point
sources such as factories handling asbestos, or indoor air in housing
and buildings containing friable asbestos materials.”
In
such a backdrop, it is quite distressing that Ramco company's factories
in Bihiya managed to get relief from Patna High Court on a
procedural ground of violation of natural justice. Now that the procedural error has been rectified, the operation of the two units of Ramco asbestos
company must be stopped. Its operation is a case of environmental
health lawlessness. It has violated every specific and general condition
which has been stipulated in the environmental clearance and the No
Objection Certificate.
It
is necessary to initiate preventive action in the face of tycoons,
officials and ministers facing criminal charges and imprisonment for
their act of knowingly subjecting unsuspecting people to killer fibers
of asbestos in Europe. The future will be no different for the
culprits in India. It is quite clear from the Court’s order that Chairman, BSPCB has to re-issue the “fresh order in accordance with the law after hearing the parties” and reiterate its earlier order against the both the asbestos based units in Bihiya, Bihar.
(Photo:
Prof. Ishwari Prasad with Awadhesh Narayan Singh, Chairman, Bihar
Legislative Council, Dr. Barry Castleman, Justice Rekha Kumari and
Advocate Dr Gopal Krishna addressing conference environmental and
occupational health in Patna)
The
closure of both the units will be a genuine tribute to the memory of
Prof. Ishwari Prasad who wished Bihar to be a asbestos free and asbestos
related disease free state, worthy of emulation by other states.
