[Reader-list] Ports: The New Frontier In The Development War In Odisha

[asit das]

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*Ports: The New Frontier In The Development War In Odisha *

*By Ranjana & Nigam *

20 May, 2012
*Countercurrents.org *

Chaumukh, a village visited by continuous depredations of both nature and
human beings for the last 60 years so, is as if, on the run always. Each
time the Subarnarekha river, running to the north of the village, is
flooded, a parcel from the village is washed away into it. The affected
people, with whatever little they can recover from the mouth of
Subarnarekha, move further up towards the coastal forest area in the south.
They clear a patch of the new area, try to build a home, to plant a few
coconut trees, to plant a few betel vines to survive and to create a new
life and carry on. Each time they lose something to Subarnarekha, but what
is not lost is their sense of being rooted. They did feel uprooted two
decades ago when the National Missile Testing Range was proposed to be set
up in their area in the 1980s. They were part of the larger resistance
covering 127 villages of that area that finally succeeded in getting the
project stalled. The people of the area had breathed a sigh of relief after
a long battle of 6 years. Now again, they are going to be uprooted for the
proposed Subarnarekha port to be constructed by Creative Port Development
Pvt. Ltd., Chennai. And the resistance has begun against it. Having
seemingly won a battle against the setting up of the missile testing range
in the Baliapal block of Balasore district of Odisha in the late 80s, the
same people are pitted against a bigger war today. It is the war of
development -- that is engulfing the majority poor of Odisha's SC, ST and
dalit communities that have been self-reliant without any attention from
the government whatsoever in the last few decades.

This war has intensified in the mineral-rich hinterland of Odisha, since
90s. To extract minerals and to set up mineral-based industries, people are
being uprooted from the villages, jungles destroyed, mountains razed to the
ground, streams and rivers being polluted. To export those minerals and to
import materials for those industries, ports are being constructed along
the 480 km coastline of Odisha from Bahuda Mouth in Ganjam district to
Subarnarekha Mouth in Balasore district. [i]
<http://uk.mc296.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.gx=1&.tm=1337444128&.rand=2pshombe0g8u7#_edn1>So
the war zone is expanding to the mainland, the coastal Odisha.

To develop these minor and intermediate ports, the Govt. of Odisha has
formulated a Port Policy. Some features of it are:-

a) To implement the policy Orissa Maritime Board (OMB) will be formed
through State Legislation. It will act as a single window agency for
development of ports and inland waterways.
b) Private participation in the ports will be facilitated either through
I.C.B (International Competitive Bidding) or M.OU. The OMB will enter into
MOUs and Concession Agreements with the approval of Govt. of Orissa.
c) Port locations are to be given on Build, Own, Operate, Share and
Transfer (BOOST), Or on Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) or on
Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis.
d) The cost of private land acquisition shall be borne by the developer.
However, this cost shall be compensated during the concession period, by
adjusting the same, against the future revenue streams that would accrue to
the Government/OMB.
e) Government of Orissa/Orissa Maritime Board's equity participation will
be restricted to 11% in order to insulate port management from
interference.
f) The private developer is granted the exclusive rights to develop the
project, operate and maintain it and collect fees/tariffs or charges for
cost recovery for a finite period of 25-30 years.

Of these 15 ports, the process to develop Subarnarekha Port at Kirtania is
underway for which Chaumukh village/Gram Panchayat will be displaced in the
first phase. The affected people are also in hope of active solidarity with
other movements and concerned sections in the country. We visited the area
on April 2 and 3 and feel the dire need to share this information with a
larger public.

*AN OVERVIEW OF CHAUMUKH *

Chaumukh near Subarnarekha mouth is around 13-14km away from the block
headquarter Baliapal and 70 km from the district headquarter Balasore.n One
gets the feel of the area as one goes from Baliapal to Chaumukh. On both
sides of road, there are vast stretches of flowering kharif paddy fields
and the air is heady with its smell. Gradually, the motorable road vanishes
into a narrow, snaky, sandy village road and the air gets cooler (though
the temperature would be around 40 degree Celsius). Betel vines, betel nut,
cashew, coconut, mango trees along the village road form a leafy canopy and
the sun rays hardly touch the village road.

According to 2001 Census, the population of the village is 7155. Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes constitute 7.3% (523) and 3.8% (269)
respectively of the total population. The literacy rate is 71.4% well above
the state average. Majority of the population are involved in agriculture
and some people belonging to SCs do the fishing in the river Subarekha and
the sea for livelihood. It is such fertile areas that people with some
pride often say, “we produce everything we need except kerosene, salt and
clothes” and they remember, “during the struggle against Missile Test
Range, the Govt. cut off kerosene supply to harass us”. However, many
people, mostly the SCs and STs do not have record of rights though they
have been living there for decades. Some families have got land from the
Bhoodan Samiti. The dependence of people on the land and the sea for
livelihood runs across each and every village lane and hamlet, even for the
poorest of them. Today, they are getting more resolved to give a tough
fight as they see no option of survival for themselves or their progeny.

*ABOUT THE PROJECT *

The government of Odisha signed an MOU on 18th December 2006 and entered
into a Concession Agreement on 11th January 2008 with the Creative Port
Development Pvt. Ltd., Chennai to establish an all-weather multi-purpose
port at Kirtania (Bhogarai block) on the Northern side of the mouth of
River Subarnarekha on Build, Own, Operate, Share and Transfer (BOOST)
basis. However, for unmentioned reasons, it has been shifted to Chaumukh
and the port has been named as Subarnarekha Port. Regarding shifting of the
place, the Subarnarekha Port adviser P.K. Singh clarifies, “The agreement
was signed to construct a port around 5 km. radius of the mouth of
Subarnarekha River. As the DPR (Detailed Project Report) pointed out many
difficulties to construct port at Kirtania, it was shifted to Chaumukh and
the state Govt has been informed of this at the time of signing Concession
Agreement”. However, name of Kirtania is there in the Concession Agreement.
The port authority in a press conference at Balasore has said, “there was
an apprehension that the mouth of the river would have been, gradually,
silted, had there been a port at Kirtania. As a result, more than 2 lakh
people of Basta, Baliapal and Bhogarai blocks of Balasore district would
have been affected by artificial flood. The large mangrove forest on the
side of Kirtania would have been destroyed and this would cause the danger
of indirect flood and havoc. For this, the tourist beach at Talsasari and
Digha would have been affected”(The Samaj, 25th October 2010, Balasore-
report by Satyasiba Das- Subarnarekha port a hindrance to Bichitrapur).

However, the Executive Summary(October 2010) of the Environment Impact
Assessment(EIA) Study for Subarnarekha Port Pvt. Ltd.(SPPL) done by L&T
Ramboll mentions “the proposed Subarnarekha Port site is located near the
mouth of the Subarnarekha River, which is South-East of Chaumukh village”.
As regards the land requirement for the port, it says, “SPPL has applied
for government non-forest land of about 1215.43 acres with a stretch of
about 9 km long waterfront near the mouth of Subarnarekha”. As per the
Brochure of the Subarnarekha Port Private Limited, 1215.43 acres land (100%
Govt.) is required for the construction of 1st phase of the port. No
additional land will be required for 2nd and 3rd phase construction and if
need be, it would be expanded towards sea. The EIA study says, “ the land
proposed for the Subarnarekha Port is government non-forest land and about
251 numbers of encroachers are there on the earmarked land”. However, “the
D.F.O.(Wild Life) Division, Balasore raised objection that 100 acres of
casurinas' plantation having average plant of 1000 trees per hector is
coming within the alienation land of Subarnarekha Port. He requested to
advise Port authority not to take up any work without obtaining Forest and
Environment clearance from Govt. of India”(Minutes of the Review meeting on
matters of Subarnarekha Port at Chaumukh Baliapal of Balasore by the
Collector Balasore held on 13-12-2011). It is also important to note that
Land Schedule prepared for 1215.43 acres of land does not mention of forest
land. But Upakula Vittamati Surakshya Committee, the organization leading
the protest against the proposed port, in its representation dated
30-04-2011 to Union Minister Forest & Environment has mentioned about 700
acres of forest land and this by and large tallies with Belabhumi (Beach
land) kisam land shown in the Land Schedule. It seems that the EIA Study
and the Govt. of Odisha Land Schedule do not deliberately show forest land
in the earmarked area just to avoid implementing the provisions of Forest
Rights Act.

Out of the earmarked land for port, 387.98 acres constitute Bhoodan land.
Some of it has been distributed to landless people, mainly SCs and STs, and
some land is being used for common purpose.

An area of 1565.93 acre (1304.05 acre private land and 261.88 acre Govt.
land) is going to be acquired for 40 km long and 100 meter wide road/rail
corridor connecting the port to Haldipada Station. For this, 98 families
will be affected by being displaced.

The Upakula Vittamati Surakshya Committee feels that the land requirement
for the port would be more because when the port was first declared to be
at Kirtania the requirement was 10000 acres in May 2008; then it was
reduced to 8500 acres in October 2008 and again to 4200 acres in August
2009. Whatever may be the land requirement, people of 4 GPs (Chaumukh,
Dagara, Betagadia and Aladiha) would be largely affected by the present
proposed port. Secondly, around 40 thousand fishermen of 9 GPs will lose
their traditional source of livelihood because of the 9 Km waterfront that
would be under the control of Port and would be a prohibited area. Thirdly,
the proposed rail/road corridor would block the natural water channels and
will cause severe flood and water logging problem in the 4 Blocks of
Northern Balasore.

Neither the EIA Study in its Social Impact Assessment nor the Govt. of
Odisha provides clear information as to how many people will be directly or
indirectly affected by this project. However, the EIA executive summary
takes note of the socio-economic condition of 72,591 people in the study
area. On the other hand, as regards the employment opportunity of the
project it says, “ employment potential during construction phase and
operational phase is estimated to be 1500 and 350 persons respectively”.

*RESISTANCE AND REPRESSION *

As usual, the MOU was signed surreptitiously and local people were kept in
dark about the project. The MOU was signed in December 2006 and Concession
Agreement in 2008, that too for a port at Kirtania. But the local people
had no knowledge how and when it was shifted to Chaumukh. People got to
know about the project only when the eviction notice was served during the
early months of 2010. Then they started organizing themselves under the
banner of Upakula Vittamati Suraksya Committee and did not allow the survey
team that had appeared in the village in early October. Then onwards,
things took violent turns. The resisting population had to face violence
repeatedly at the hands of pro-port local elements and the state machinery.
It has been a tactic by the company to lure away some local elements and to
set them against the people who are opposing it. In Odisha, we have seen it
in Kashipur, Lanjigarh, Kalinga Nagar and now in the POSCO area.

On October 10, 2010, some people of the area got news of a survey team
arriving there at around 11 O' clock in the morning. Conch shells were
blown to alert others (it was a popular tactic used by people in Baliapal
whenever Govt. officials entered the area). And immediately, some 250-300
people including 30 women with small children gathered at the Chaumukh
school and peacefully sat on a dharna. Women slept on the road not to allow
the survey team headed by the port adviser Shri P.K.Singh. He had come with
40 youths including the Sarpanch of Dagara Panchayat. All were on motor
cycles. The Sarpanch of Chaumukh was also there. On consultation with him,
the Committee decided that the matter would be discussed with the
Tahasildar, Baliapal and port adviser P.K. Singh after Dussera. It was
intimated to the Tahasildar and he agreed to it. He himself also intimated
this to P.K.Singh. However, Mr. Singh without listening to Tahasildar
ordered his brigade to run the motor cycle over the women sleeping on the
road. Then the youths accompanying the port adviser rushed towards women
using filthy language and dragged them by their hair, tore down their
sarees and blouses and some even beat them with the bamboo sticks picked up
from the fences and with their shoes. A child of one and half years old was
pulled from his mother's lap and thrown to the thorny fences. (FIR dated
10-10-2010 lodged by Shri Laxmikanta Khatua, President of the Committee).
P. K. Singh was heard encouraging the hired hoodlums to kill ten and he
would look after the matter. On the other hand, women's efforts of
resistance were made mockery of and some were subject to molestation. The
goons openly threatened them with sexual violence for daring to rebel. A
few women were chased indoors and beaten up. In this incident 10 women were
injured and they were admitted into Community Health Centre, Baliapal. Some
elderly women were still complaining of pain when we met them in April
2012. Shri Laxmikanta Khatua, President of the Committee, lodged an FIR in
Baliapal police station on the same day. However, local people say that
action has not yet been taken against the culprits.

After the Dussera festival, the Tahsildar did not come forward for any
discussion as promised. Rather, the people went to meet the District
Collector and invited him to come to the area to see for himself the real
ground situation. However, he flatly denied to come. Neither did the
district administration conduct any palli sabha/gram sabha to elicit
people's opinion about the project.

On the other hand, a people's hearing was suddenly announced on 30th
December without much prior notice. Even, the venue chosen by the
administration was some private land. The local people immediately got
together to demand that a due process be followed for the organizing of the
people's hearing. Almost 3000 people gathered to oppose the tribunal that
had been foisted on them in this clandestine manner. Around 500 women and
children were sitting in the front with the men folk and youth behind them.
They had put three chairs on the road with photographs of Subash Chandra
Bose, Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Jagannath. The intimidation by the
administration began in the presence of the Collector and SP, Balasore and
Director, State Pollution Control Board. The police began to rough up
people and tossed away the photographs of the people's cherished idols.
What followed was gruesome violence on a peaceful protest of unarmed
people. More than a hundred people were injured most grievously but only
some could be taken to the hospital. Even as they were completing the first
aid etc, the police picked up 29 people, including 10 women. Even some
relatives escorting the people were arrested. They were confined for 45
days. There was too much fear to go to the hospital or even file an FIR.
Yet, the people shared with us the prescriptions and medication given to
them in the hospital that they have carefully kept as record.

Clandestine MOUs, arbitrary tribunals, sexual violence against women, use
of hired goondas, illegal arrests and clamp down on people's meetings have
become the order of the day in many parts of Odisha as elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the adivasi Bhoodan land grantees, on behalf of the villagers of
Chaumukh, have filed an injunction suit against the alienation of Bhoodan
land. Apparently, the land acquisition process has stopped for the time
being. But, the destruction of livelihood of thousands and thousands of
peasants and fishermen and ecological devastation of the entire coastal
belt of Odisha for these proposed ports is looming large.

[i]
<http://uk.mc296.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.gx=1&.tm=1337444128&.rand=2pshombe0g8u7#_ednref1>Here
is a list of ports notified by the Govt. of Odisha:

Sl No Name of the Port District Corporation involved
1 Gopalpur Ganjam operationalised
2 Bahuda Muhan (Sonepur) Ganjam
3 Palur Ganjam
5 Bali Harchandi Puri
6 Astaranga Puri
7 Jatadhari Muhan Puri
8 Barunei Muhan Kendrapada
9 Dhamra Bhadrakh operationalised
10 Chudamani Bhadrakh
11 Inchudi Balasore
12 Chandipur Balasore
13 Bahabalpur Balasore
14 Subarnarekha mouth (Kirtania) Balasore
15 Talasara (Bichitrapur) Balasore JSW Infrastructure Ltd. (part of O.P.
Jindal Group

Source: Business Standard(Orissa to notify Talasara as 14th port site-
April 18, 2012)

Ranjana is a feminist activist and researcher based in Delhi.
ranjanapadhi at yahoo.co.uk

Nigam is a free lance writer and translator based in Odisha.