Asbestos Company sues Nitish Kumar led Government for supporting Vaishali villagers
Amidst bitter resistance of Vaishali villagers to stop cancer causing asbestos
factory, Utkal Asbestos company has been filing fake cases to implicate villagers
and Bihar Govt
Patna/New Delhi: In response to Bihar
Chief Minister’s promise of ‘puncturing’ hazardous asbestos factories in the fertile
State in the meeting with the leaders of Vaishali’s
Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Committee (KBJBJC) and the leaders of left parties on February 13, 2013,
Utkal Asbestos Limited (UAL) Industries Ltd has filed a case against the State Government. The
case was filed on March 4, 2013 in the Patna High Court. The case is scheduled for
hearing on April 4, 2013 before Mr. Justice J.N.Singh.
The promise of the Chief Minister followed declaration of Shri Awadhesh Narain Singh,
Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council saying ‘buying asbestos is akin to buying cancer’ at a conference on
environmental and occupational health on December 24, 2012, in his address to
the health experts, scientists, trade union leaders,
academicians, civil society leaders and villagers. The
conference also adopted a Patna Declaration urging State of Bihar
to ban Asbestos Product Use and to ban Asbestos
Product Use. Speech of Chairman, Bihar Legislative
Council is available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9TbemRUkYM
It
may be recalled that Justice (Retd) Rekha Kumari, Patna High Court has contended
that companies which willfully expose human beings to cancer causing fibers of
asbestos must be made criminally liable because right to health is part of
right to life in a public lecture on December 24, 2012 at A N Sinha Institute
of Social Studies, Patna. Her hand written legal opinion is available with
the ToxicsWatch Alliance, which has been campaigning for national ban on lung
cancer causing on asbestos products following its ban in over 50 countries.
It is noteworthy that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met the leaders
of ban asbestos movement met the leaders at his residence at 1, Anne
Marg in Patna in the
evening hours of on February 13, 2013. The 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. In a remarkable move Bihar Chief Minister phoned
Chairman, BSPCB and
fixed an appointment for the villagers of Vaishali for
February 14, 2013 and expressed his disapproval for asbestos
based factories to him in front of the leaders of the left parties and
the villagers’ committee.
Following the meeting with the villagers and Chief Minister’s
directions, BSPCB officials visited the factory site on March 4, 2013 as part of the process to cancel the approval given to
the asbestos company’s plant.
Struggle of villagers of Vaishali’s
Chaksultan Rampur Rajdhari near Panapur in Kanhauli Dhanraj Panchayat in Goraul
block against asbestos based factory has reached a
decisive phase. Villagers have been protesting against this lung cancer causing
hazardous plant under the banner of KBJBJC for more than
2 years.
After the villagers Mahadharna of June 14, 2012, the
district administration had put a stay on the construction of the factory. When
the construction started again on December 16, 2012, the villagers blocked the
Mahua-Samastipur road for 9 hours to express their protest against the proposed
white asbestos plant of UAL company
in their village on June 14. Cancer causing white asbestos
also called chrysotile asbestos is banned in 55
countries.
It is noteworthy that "The Government of India is
considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in
India to protect the workers and the general population against primary and
secondary exposure to Chrysotile form of Asbestos."
This has been revealed in a concept paper by Union Ministry of Labour revealed during 19-20th September, 2011. The
resolutions of WHO and ILO in 2005 and 2006 have called for the elimination of asbestos.
In India, mining of asbestos is
technically banned but its import from other countries is yet to be banned.
Trade in asbestos (dust & fibers) is also banned.
The dubious designs of the UAL company against the
villagers and protesters to protect its hazardous plant
at the cost of villagers’ health was condemned by the speakers who spoke at the
demonstration. In a dubious move, the UAL has filed case no. 252/2012, 509/2012
and 510/2012 to silence the voice of public interest persons. This appears to be
done to trap villagers into concocted cases as part of company’s design to
malign the movement of the KBJBJC. The memorandum sought the withdrawal of
three fake cases lodged in Mahua Thana, Vaihsali.
Asbestos Virodhi Nagrik Manch, Patna and left
and socialist parties participated in the demonstration on January 16, 2012 to
express solidarity with the villagers struggle against the asbestos
based factory of Utkal Asbestos Limited.
Now that the construction of asbestos
based factory in Vaishali is all set to be permanently
stopped, the issue of three asbestos plants in Bhojpur’s
Giddha and Bihiya has come to the forefront where protest has been going on for
more than 2 years. Notably, the Giddha plant is situated
behind a B Ed College. The villagers are protesting against this plant. In Bihiya, Tamil Nadu based Ramco Industries is
operating two asbestos plants amidst protests from
villagers although it has permission for only one. Memorandum has been
submitted to the District administration and BSPCB in this regard.
The memorandum to the Chief Minister demanded white asbestos based
plants should be closed in public interest keeping public health in mind and
dismissal of fake case registered by Utkal Management.
ToxicsWatch Alliance demands that following Chief
Minister’s intervention Bihar’s
State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) and the State Cabinet must
disapprove asbestos based industrial projects and rescind earlier
approvals.
For Details:
Gopal Krishna,
ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 9818089660 (Delhi), Web:www.toxicswatch.org
Ajit
Kr Singh, Convener, Khet Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Committee (KBJBJC),
Vaishali, Mb: 09931669311, E-mail:ajeetsinghpushkar@gmail.com
Ravindra Prasad Singh, Khet
Bachao Jeevan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Committee (KBJBJC), Vaishali,
Mb: 8986980751
