Public hearing Venue: Dahej village, Dist. Bharuch
Project Proponent: M/s. Adani Cementation Limited
Date: 7/12/2018
Attended By: Green Catalysts
No. of Green Catalyst: 10
Objective of Visit:
- To conduct pre-training for the Green Catalyst prior to the training on EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment).
- Introducing the team with one of the parameters of legal procedure for obtaining Environmental Clearance.
- Enhance knowledge of Public hearing procedure. They were already provided link of summary of EIA report and told to study it before attending the EPH.
- Acknowledging them with the actual scenario and condition of affected people as consequences of project establishment.
Outline of Public Hearing:
- The public hearing was scheduled on 07-12-2018
At 11:00 hrs at C.T. Village limit: Dahej, 125/p, 124/p village limit: Lakhigam, Taluka:
Vagra, Dist. Bharuch at the actual site of proposed project. - Public hearing was chaired by R. R. Vyas, Regional Officer and J. P. Asari, Additional District Collector and Additional District Magistrate.
- Shri R. R. Vyas, Regional officer, GPCB Bharuch started the public hearing with the brief introduction of EPH and work done by GPCB related to EPH.
- GPCB with the permission of Chairman of Public Hearing opened the forum for representation/ suggestions/ objections/ questions from the locally affected people.
- Presentation about the project was done by M/s. Adani Cementation Ltd.
- Around 180 people were present in the public hearing.
- Total 29 people took part in oral presentation at the public hearing. Out of which many were present with complaints and others had positive response towards ACL and their work done under CSR.
Observations by Green Catalyst:
- Green Catalysts observed the legal procedure and came to know about the problems the local people were suffering from.
- Many people came as a land-loser and complained on not receiving satisfactory responses to their problems.
- There were very few people who had thorough knowledge on EIA report previously made by ACL and were able to question the project proponent on actual environmental threatening issues.
- There were also those people who welcomed ACL project and appreciated the work previously done by them under CSR.
- The objective of the public hearing is to address concerns of affected people due to upcoming project, but we felt that there were many issues unsolved provoked due to preceding project
- Team members realized the necessity of awareness among villagers regarding the impacts on their health and the environment , so that they can raise objections which can further be helpful for their own healthy lives.
Conclusion:
It was an expediential training; team members had a bag full of experiences with clarity in the concept of EPH and its procedure as well as more curiosity of enhancing their knowledge on EIA and its reviewing methodology.
