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September 27, 2008
Protests force CM to order halt to Dow project work in Maharashtra
Domain-b.com, September 27, 2008
Mumbai: Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has ordered the Dow Chemical project at Shinde Vasuli, near Chakan, about 25 km from Pune, to stop work for a month, following intesified agitation against the project by local people.
The chief minister, who is currently on a European tour, took the decision keeping in mind the demand by followers of the Warkari sect and environmental activists to abandon the project, which, they claim, would pollute a nearby river and the entire area around the project.
The state government has also decided to appoint a committee headed by a former high court judge to study the objections to the project. The panel is expected to submit a report within a month.
Dow Chemicals and the government authorities say the company is setting up an R&D unit and have ruled out scope for pollution as no commercial production will be undertaken there.
While an R&D unit can cause greater damage to the environment than a production unit that uses proven technology, opponents of the project point out that the company has sought 100 acres of land, enough for setting up several production facilities.
''We do not want the polluting unit here and will not rest till it is wound up,'' former Bombay High Court judge B G Kolse Patil, who is leading the agitation, said.
''But, if there would be no commercial production, why the company had sought 100 acres of land in that case?'' he asked.
''We have adverse reports against the company from 54 countries and cannot trust its promises,'' he added.
Rebel Nationalist Congress Party leader Shalinitai Patil and widow of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil led the agitation in Alandi, while party president and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar appealed to the the people to refrain from the agitation.
He also gave a clean chit to the project and condemned the beating up of a Dow official and burning down of his car by the protesters.
Followers of the Varkari sect staged a protest in Chakan, Alandi and Khed sub-districts demanding closure of the unit.
The Warkari community, followers of saint Tukaram and saint Dnayneshwar, have been protesting against the Dow project since January this year as they fear the chemical giant's operations would lead to severe enviromental crisis and pollution within the Dehu-Alandi belt, which they consider sacred.
The community members on Friday re-asserted that they would not allow Dow Chemicals, which is synonymous with Union Carbide, to set up any project in Maharashtra.
The US chemical multinational now owns the infamous Union Carbide that caused the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that killed several thousands and left several million others permanently disabled.
The Union Carbide facility in Bhopal caused the release of 40 tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas in the worst disaster caused by a chemical factory.
The Dow R&D project, however, has received clearances from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the National Chemicals Laboratory.
Posted by tim at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)
Dow stumbles on green hurdle
Calcutta Telegraph, September 27, 2008
Mumbai, Sept. 27: Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh got a taste of Singur when he was forced to order US multinational Dow Chemicals yesterday to suspend construction work in the state following objections from local people that the project would affect the environment.
Deshmukh, on a tour of England and Switzerland to attract foreign investments, issued instructions from London that the company must keep its work on hold till a committee headed by a retired high court judge examined the grievances and submitted a report.
“He issued a directive that a committee headed by a retired justice should be appointed to examine the grievances of protesters and submit a report to the government within one month,” a spokesperson in the chief minister’s office said.
Dow is building a Rs 300-crore plant in Chakan, 220km from here and 40km from Pune, spread over 100 acres.
Deshmukh’s directive came after state marketing minister Harshavardhan Patil and Deshmukh’s close aide from Pune, Ulhas Pawar, telephoned him in London to say that the protests against Dow were growing and the government should intervene.
“We told the chief minister that there should not be any misunderstanding and that if people have grievances, they should be looked into,” Patil said.
Local villagers led by the Warkari sect — they are followers of Lord Vithal who strictly adhere to non-violence — have been protesting against Dow, alleging that the plant in the Chakan industrial area would pollute the Pune region.
They fear that chemicals and effluents used at the plant would pollute the Sudha river that flows nearby, creating problems for farmers.
The protesters intensified their agitation since January. They claimed the company and the Democratic Front government were “not transparent” about the exact nature of the plant.
The villagers dug up roads, put up blockades to stop construction material from reaching the Dow site and damaged temporary sheds in July.
Protests were staged all through the week and home minister R.R. Patil was gheraoed when he went to Pune.
Union Carbide, which is synonymous with the Bhopal gas leak that killed hundreds in 1984, is a subsidiary of Dow that claimed the plant in Chakan was a research and development facility.
Chemicals would be used in small quantities for research and be disposed of in a facility designated by the state government, Dow said.
The villagers also have spiritual reasons for opposing the project.
The Warkari sect, which reveres Sant Tukaram and Sant Dnyaneshwar, treats the region as sacred. Sant Tukaram is believed to have written his collection of abhangs on the banks of the Sudha and his birthplace, Dehu, is 5km from the project site.
Sant Dnyaneshwar’s birthplace, Alandi, is also nearby.
On Thursday, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray declared his support for the agitators. Sena workers staged protests in Dehu and Alandi yesterday.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has denied that he had a role in fast-tracking the Dow project and has assured protesters that their grievances would be addressed.
Posted by tim at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
CM issues stop-work orders at Dow site
Economic Times, September 27, 2008
MUMBAI: State chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday has issued orders to stop work on the controversial Dow Chemical plant, near Pune, for a month. The project will be reviewed and a decision will be taken after a month, Mr Deshmukh, who is in London on an investment mission for the state, said.
As part of the anti-Dow protest, warkaris members of the local religious-cultural sect organised ‘rasta roko’ at the Mumbai-Bangalore highway on Friday. On Thursday, protestors had gheraoed food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on his way to Indapur.
As reported earlier, there have been at least three major incidents of attack and arson at Dow’s site in the past two months. The US chemical giant’s Rs 400-crore plan to develop the unit into a global research and development centre has been facing stiff opposition.
Its relationship with Union Carbide — responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 that took over 8,000 lives — was the main ground for the opposition. Local environmentalists were joined by the warkaris who feared that the company may pollute the river Bheema. Saints like Tukaram and Dnyaneshwar had lived hundreds of years ago along the banks of this river.
Last month, a large group of protesters ransacked the company site near Pune. According to police, over a 100 miscreants came in jeeps with hammers, spanners, kerosene etc. They destroyed company property and set some machinery on fire. In the latest incident, a company vehicle was set on fire last week.
Posted by tim at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Deshmukh stays construction of Dow's Pune R&D facility
Business Standard, September 27, 2008
Appoints panel to look into protesters’ charges.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has stayed the construction of Dow Chemical’s research and development (R&D) facility at Vasuli-Shinde village near Chakan in Pune district of Maharashtra. While staying the construction work for a month, Deshmukh has also announced the appointment of a committee under the chairmanship of a retired high court judge to look into the contention of villagers, Varkaris (members of a religious sect) and civil society activists that the Dow facility, if allowed, would pollute the area.
The Chief Minister is currently in London, scouting for investments in the state. Ironically, Deshmukh took this step just a day after Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, while visiting Pune, came out in support of the project. Pawar’s pro-Dow statement had angered Varkaris so much that they intensified their agitation across the district.
Speaking at a conference in London earlier in the day, Deshmukh had appealed to industry captains to make farmers stakeholders in their projects as they were feeling threatened whenever attempts were made to acquire farmland for industrial or infrastructural purposes.
Dow Chemical is investing $100 million (Rs 460 crore) to develop the R&D centre over 100 acres of land at the Vasuli-Shinde village. In late July, Varkaris, led by sect leader Bandya Tatya Karadkar Maharaj, had torched portions of the upcoming facility.
When contacted, retired high court judge B G Kolse-Patil, president of Lok Shashan, the organisation on the forefront of the agitation, said, “We welcome the state government’s decision to stay the construction work and appoint a committee. This is the first victory in our long-drawn battle against Dow.” He also thanked Pawar for making those pro-Dow comments, which “hurt the sentiments of Varkaris and forced the government to take the decision”.
Reached for comments, a Dow Chemical spokesperson said they had not received any communication from the government in this regard.
Posted by tim at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2008
Maharashtra sect up in arms against Dow Chemicals unit in Pune
Sindh Today, September 26, 2008
Pune, Sep 26 (IANS) Followers of the Varkari sect in Maharashtra Friday intensified their agitation against Dow Chemicals to press their demand for closure of the multinational company’s unit near here for alleged pollution.
The Varkaris staged a protest in Chakan, Alandi and Khed sub-districts.
The Varkaris, known for their peace loving nature and devotion to Maharashtra’s reigning deity Vithoba of Pandharpur, are up in arms against the infamous Union Carbide’s sister concern setting up its Research and Development unit at Shinde Vasuli near Chakan, about 25 km from Pune.
‘We do not want the polluting unit here and will not rest till it is wound up,’ former Bombay High Court judge B.G. Kolse Patil, leading the agitation, told reporters.
Doubting the claim of Dow Chemicals and the government authorities that the company only wants to set up it R&D unit where no commercial production would be carried out and therefore no scope for pollution, Kolse Patil asked why the company had sought 100 acres of land in that case.
‘We have adverse reports against the company from 54 countries and cannot trust its promises,’ he added.
Even as rebel Nationalist Congress Party leader Shalinitai Patil, the widow of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil, led the agitation in Alandi, the party’s president and union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar appealed to the Varkaris in Pune to refrain from the agitation.
‘I will not hesitate to recommend the unit’s closure if it were to cause pollution but my enquiries have revealed that nothing of the sort is happening,’ Pawar said.
Referring to the beating up of a Dow official and burning down of his car by the protesters, Pawar said it was unbecoming of the sect’s character.
A Maharashtra Pollution Control Board officer told IANS that the proposed R&D unit has received clearance from the National Chemicals Laboratory but could complete only 20 percent of its construction because of the ongoing agitation.
Among those lending support to the agitation was Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Gopinath Munde, who flayed the arrest and ‘humiliation’ of Varkari leader Bandu Maharaj Karadkar some days ago. The BJP’s ally Shiv Sena has also supported the stir.
Meanwhile, the Varkaris took out processions singing bhajans (devotional songs) at other places in the state, including Nagpur and Akola, to express solidarity with the agitation.
Posted by tim at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2008
Maharashtra on the march against Dow
The following report is from one of the organisations campaigning against the proposed Dow R&D facility in Pune. Ed.
September 23, 2008
Friends,
The agitation against Dow has intensified. Since the arrest of Banda Tatya Maharaj Karadkar on Saturday, there have been continuous protests all over Maharashtra.
• Yesterday, protests were held in Thane. Today, massive protests were held in Kalyan (Thane district) where Eknath Sadgir Maharaj led the Dindi from Vithal mandir to the Municipal Corporation. Eknath Sadgir Maharaj, Anand Joshi maharaj, Jayshri Ghadi (Lokshasan andolan), Kishore More (Yuva Bharat) addressed the warkaris on this occasion. At this moment, protests are going on at Bhandup in Mumbai.
Protests in Thane yesterday that began a wave of agitation against Dow across the state
• Warkaris gheraod Dy.CM Shri. R.R. Patil at Satara and demanded immediate scrapping of permission to Dow and the immediate release of Banda Tatya and other warkaris. Dy. CM assured that they will think about withdrawing all the cases against Banda Tatya and other warkaris and villagers.
• Massive protests continued in Shirpur (Dhule district) where thousands of warkaris protested. Warkaris protested in Nashik, Malegaon, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Latur and other places.
A huge gathering of warkaris outside Chakan police station
• The students who take formal education within the framework of the warkari tradition and are trained to become warkaris came out in open protests in Alandi. At this moment around ten thousand students of Alandi have come on the road demanding the immediate release of Banda Tatya, withdrawal of all cases and immediate scrapping of Dow Chemical’s project in Shinde.
• Pune Universty students protested against Dow. Shashi Sonawane addressed the students
• Tomorrow massive protests are planned. Warkaris are determined to have massive demonstrations, gherao, rasta rook (road blockade) all over Maharashtra.
Dow Chemicals in connivance with the administration is trying to break the unity of the villagers. They are following usual tactics of bribing villagers. They have declared a donation of Rs. 25 lakhs for renovation of the village temple. Yesterday, the women activists of Lokshasan Andolan from Shinde village strongly protested against the authorities and the administration and thwarted this move.
Shashi Sonawane
National Convenor - Yuva Bharat
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LOKSHASAN ANDOLAN
Swatantrya - Samata - Bandhutva - Swawalamban
FOUNDER - Justice P.B. Sawant (retd.)
President - Justice B.G. Kolse-patil (retd.) (9822434343)
Working President - Com. Vilas Sonawane (9422520574)
Shashi Sonawane (9967134717)
Posted by tim at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)