The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has blocked Tata Steel?s coal washery expansion project, crucial to its R15,000-crore Jamshedpur steel plant expansion, citing discrepancies in what the company has reported and what it has actually been doing.
Tata Steel reported to the MoEF that it would expand its washery capacity from 1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 2 mtpa. But the MoEF?s expert appraisal committee found that the company was actually setting up a new 2 mtpa washery, scrapping the old one.
The committee found that the sixty-year-old washery has not been compliant with the environmental norms and didn?t even have a green belt to surround the project on 17 acres.
Tata Steel was increasing the washery?s capacity to match the washed coal requirement of its Jamshedpur Steel Plant?s expanded capacity. The company is augmenting its Jamshedpur plant?s capacity from 6.8 mtpa to 10 mtpa. The company would require 7.30 mtpa washed coal after the expansion.
In order to expand the washery, Tata Steel was also expanding its collieries in Dhanbad to increase coal production from 0.28 mtpa to 0.6 mtpa. However, the MoEF has found that the existing mining activities have created a lot of health hazards among the local population, besides developing cracks in houses for blasts. The area?s water table has also been adversely affected.
An MoEF official told FE that Tata Steel had been running the 1-mtpa washery since 1952 and so it didn?t furnish any compliance report relating to environmental norms. After the appraisal committee took up both the washery and colliery expansion project for review, it found that the existing washery didn?t have any green belt around. Fly ash was polluting the local Jamdoba village and it was being dumped in the low lying areas, including the wet land and water bodies.
Following such findings, the MoEF asked the Jharkhand government to furnish reports about the health conditions of the local people. The state reported that 31% of the local population was suffering from gastroenteritis and 20% from respiratory ailments.
Mining activities have adversely affected the water table, and the expansion would add to the problem since it would be underground mining extending from 450 metres to 650 metres, the official said.
Tata Steel feeds around 32% of its mined raw coal in the washery and produces clean coal with 15-18% ash content. The rejects, with 48-50% ash content, is consumed in the power plant and sold to institutional customers.
However, the notice slapped on Tata Steel (available with FE) said, ?The committee was appalled at the callous and perfunctory manner in which oral responses were given by the proponent and consultant to the various queries raised by the members.?
The notice said, ?Even though coal mining activities in this area have been going on for over six decades, the local population does not appear to have reaped much benefit. This needs to be corrected.?
For the R135-crore washery project, Tata Steel has estimated an environmental management cost of R14 crore. Environmental management cost for the mining expansion has been estimated at R85 lakh for FY14.
However, the appraisal committee has asked Tata Steel to submit detailed hydrology of the area and the likely impact on the water table. It has also asked the company to identify the root cause of health hazards and prepare an action plan for preventive health programmes, without which it would not give approval to the projects.
