February 02, 2009
India state to shift Dow site after protests: report
Rina Chandran, Reuters, February 2nd, 2009
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's western Maharashtra state has ordered a Dow Chemical research center be built at a new location after villager protests over pollution concerns, a newspaper report said, the latest in a series of farm and industry showdowns.
However Dow, which has operated in India for more than 50 years and markets chemicals for paints, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and cosmetics, said it had not received a directive from the state so far.
Construction of the unit of Dow Chemical Co, the largest U.S. chemical maker, was suspended last September while the state government reviewed concerns over pollution in Chakan village, an automotive hub near Pune city.
Villagers, who have protested against the research center for more than a year, attacked the construction site last July and set fire to an office and company vehicles.
"We will not have the company at this particular site," Ashok Chavan, the state's chief minister, was quoted as saying by the Monday edition of the Indian Express.
A decision on a new location will be made after a state panel submits its report in a few weeks, Chavan was quoted as saying.
But a statement from Dow said: "While we remain cautiously optimistic, we cannot speculate, nor comment further until we have received official notification from the state government."
Dow has said pollution concerns about its proposed global R&D center, which was to be operational in 2008 and house about 500 engineers, were unfounded. Dow has said it would spend about $100 million on the center.
Protests against giving up land for factories of local and multinational firms have been growing in India, where more than two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for a living.
But activism against a science and technology investment sends a "very dangerous signal," the head of Dow in India told Reuters in an interview last month.
Victim groups are calling on Dow to provide compensation to thousands of people affected by a catastrophic industrial accident in Bhopal in central India, when tons of toxic gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in 1984.
It killed nearly 8,000 people from gas-related illnesses. Tens of thousands also fell ill from what is one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
Dow took over Union Carbide after the accident. There is still debate over who should clean up the site.
(Reporting by Rina Chandran; Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Jerry Norton)
Posted by tim at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2009
Dow Chemical R&D centre to be shifted
Express India, February 1, 2009
Pune: Chavan says alternative site for the plant will be decided later
The verdict is out on the fate of Dow Chemicals R&D centre that was coming up at Chakan in Pune. The one-year struggle put up by villagers of Shinde and Vasuli against Dow Chemicals has paid off with Chief Minister Ashok Chavan saying the Dow project will no longer be based at its present site.
“We will not have the company at this particular site. Based on the government committee’s report, we would take the next decision about an alternative site. It has to be decided yet. The American representatives are upset about the issue. If political compulsions force us to give up the project entirely, then it could be Gujarat’s gain,” Chavan told The Indian Express on Saturday.
When asked whether the alternative site would be around Pune, he said it will have to be seen after the committee submits its report.
Principal Secretary, Environment, Valsa Nair said the committee would be ready with the report by the third week of February. The committee, headed by Justice (Retd) R J Sinkar, has IIT Mumbai scientist S K Gupta and Groundwater Survey and Development Authority senior officer S B Khandale as members. Nair said the committee has held review meetings and will be presenting the report with all its findings.
The villagers who put up a stiff opposition for over a year are the most jubiliant. “It was a struggle against injustice,” said former sarpanch of Shinde Shantaram Panman. Another villager Sunil Deukar said the warkaris’ support had helped.
However, Bandya Tatya Kharadkar, representative of the warkari sect who even went to jail for agitating against the company, said unless they saw the company move out physically from the present premises, they were not ready to believe anything. “ Unless the company moves out we are not willing to say anything,” he said.
Activist Vilas Sonawane said the struggle was not yet over. “Our campaign is Dow hatao, India bachao. We do not want it to come anywhere in the state or the country and we will continue with our agitation,” he said.
The Dow officials, when contacted, said they had received no notification yet. Roysten D’Mello, spokesperson of the company, said the company was yet to receive any news on this front. “We have not got any papers from the government and so we are unable to comment,” he said.
Posted by tim at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)