Coal on move, 25 tonnes a
minute, is choking Goa, more
is on the way
Jindal, Adani, Vedanta are Big Three who transport coal from Mormugao
Port. Over four months, Indian Express tracks three key routes to find a
trail of health hazards, environmental damage.
Written by Smita Nair | Panjim | Updated: October 26, 2017 3:28 am
Workers are dwarfed by a coal mountain at the Mormugao Port in Goa from where the fraught
journey begins. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Nearly 25 million tonnes of coal — evenly spread across a standard football field,
this toxic black mountain will rise almost 3 km into the sky. That is the amount
that will be unloaded each year at the Mormugao Port Trust by 2020, just three
years away. By 2030, official records attest, this is slated to double — up to 51.6
million tonnes each year.
In 2016-17, 12.75 million tonnes of coal was unloaded at the port and carried
across Goa to power stations and refineries in Karnataka and beyond. By a clutch
of importers, the biggest ones being JSW Steel Ltd and the Adani Group. And
Vedanta — together they are The Big Three — which currently imports coal for its
pig iron plant in Goa, is set to ramp up an additional 1.2 million tons of anthracite,
2.6 million tonnes of coking coal and 2.1 million tonnes of thermal coal for its
proposed steel plant in Karnataka’s Bellary.
Express Investigation Part Two- The Toxic Train
Over a four-month-long investigation, The Indian Express found that coal that
arrives at the port takes three key routes, road, rail and river (see map below), that
slice deep wounds in the ecological heart of the state.
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The Indian Express travelled along each of these routes, following coal trucks and
wagons, on a 600-km trail, to find that the transport of such huge amounts of coal
is putting at risk entire habitations in villages and towns. The coal dust is
blackening lungs, pushing up incidents of respiratory disorder; it’s threatening
fragile forests, paddy fields, countless streams and rivers, at one place even a tiger
corridor, at least two sanctuaries, and an entire hill.
Interviews with scores of residents, transporters and local administration officials
and an investigation of port records show glaring gaps in the state’s regulation of
this transport.
A barge full of coal on the Zuari river, on its way to Vedanta’s pig iron factory in Amona,
Goa. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Images from Ground Zero of the coal routes in Goa
The three routes, one more coming
In villages across central Goa, men, women and children speak of how the “devil’s
dust” (fine particles of coal) has changed life itself — scarred by soot-covered
homes, a lethal cocktail of respiratory ailments and a ruined ecosystem. “We take
pride in being conscious of our ecological status, our beaches, our orchards, our
cultivation land. Most of our youth have left the state for lack of opportunity and
now when these coal corridors are being designed, there is the danger of losing our
indigenous identity, too,” says Dolvyn Braganza, 25, a teacher and part-time paddy
farmer and vegetable grower in Utorda.
“India comes to Goa for its vacation. This is not just our problem, this is your
problem, too. Once we become a coal hub, it will be too late. Nobody likes a black
Christmas,” says Braganza whose ancestral farm is located near the “coal tracks”.
Currently, official figures show that, on average , 34,200 tonnes of coal is
transported each day through the rail route from Mormugao port via Vasco,
Margao and Kulem into Karnataka through Hubli and Hospet.
According to the last official update, JSW and Adani transported over 3 million
tonnes of coal to Karnataka through rail and a land route between April and July
2017. A second land route is being cleared and there are plans to open up a
waterway through the state’s network of six rivers, with banks fashioned as coastal
jetties, designed to stagger coal silos from the port towards the east.
According to official projections, each mode of transport has its own limitations,
and all three need to be used together to transfer the “benefit of scale and
economy”.
Coal dust on the hands of a lady after wiping a seat of a scooter. In the drier months dust
increases in and around areas of old port town of Vasco. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
‘This is abuse of life’
On the other side, are people and their way of life.
Savio Correia, from Vasco, is one of the legal warriors who continues to file
applications under the Right to Information Act to fight the port — its coal plans
are at the centre of a protracted battle in the courts but more of that later.
Talk to the 48-year-old about this coal trail and he describes trains that already
pass near the backyard of his house in Vasco as “tarpaulin-covered graves”. “The
tarpaulin covers fly against the wind. The coal they import is very fine dust, they
fly across the tracks, enter our homes. If this is the kind of pollution and
devastation we are facing now, what will we face with 50 million tonnes? This is
abuse of life,” says Correia.
On the main road route through which trucks take coal past the 447-year-old St
Andrew’s Church in Vasco town, Father Gabriel Coutinho says the coal dust can
be seen on the prayer benches. “The first group of worshippers in the morning
mass suffers the worst. The trucks ply in the night. By the morning, the black dust
settles on the benches and the fans. When we start our prayers, switching on the
ceiling fans, the coal dust spreads and falls on the worshippers. The first morning
mass always begins with sneezes,” he says.
On the proposed water route, the fishing unions are the first to sound the alarm.
Says Olencio Simoes, vice-chairperson, National Fishworkers’ Forum, “The
dredging will collapse river beds and cause floods in neighbouring villages. Also,
this will amount to violation of CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) norms as
mangroves will be cut or destroyed along with the destruction of corals and reefs,
turtle nesting grounds, horseshoe crab habitats, sea grass beds, mudflats, and
nesting grounds of birds.”
Coal stacks at the Mormugao Port Trust facility near Vasco, Goa. (Express Photo: Amit
Chakravarty)
Catch-22: Port needs coal
If that is the health and social cost of transport, for importers it’s cost-effective.
An investigation has found that the transport of coal is linked not only to the
economics of the users but also to the future of the port itself. Indeed, it was the
ban on mining and the resultant cutoff in export of iron ore — from 43 million
tonnes in 2010-2011 to 11 tonnes in 2014 — that cleared the way for coal to come
flooding into Mormugao.
During the iron-ore export days, the port contributed to 35 per cent of the state
GDP, according to the Goa government . The coal that lands in Mormugao —
mainly from Australia, Indonesia and South Africa — is currently consumed by an
estimated 31 corporates.
Port records show that the Big Three
have at least a berth each for
themselves at the port. They show
that JSW imported 10.11 million
tonnes in 2016-17 for its plant in
Toranagallu, Karnataka; Adani has
an awarded capacity of 5.2 million
tonnes for its clients in Goa, Bellary,
and Hospet; and, the coal berth
allotted to Vedanta has a capacity of
6.99 million tonnes, to be utilised for
its proposed Bellary plant.
The Shipping Ministry, meanwhile,
has identified 17 coal-backed power
plants and 22 steel plants as
“potential clients” in the pipeline for
the Mormugao Port at Bellary,
Hospet, Belgaum, Hubli, Kudgi,
Solapur, Bijapur, Gulbarga,
Vijayanagara and Raichur, according
to the 2016 Sagarmala report for
coastal upgradation.
While the coal berths used by Jindal
and Vedanta cater mainly to their
own plants, records show that Adani
will mainly import coal for the new
players. With 770 kg of coal required
to manufacture one tonne of steel,
the answer to why these routes are
being used is simple: it makes
economic sense for the companies and for the port itself.
Take the road route, for instance, used by Adani to carry 20 per cent of its coal.
Coal transporters say that for every tonne imported, the carriage fare works out to
Rs 850 for the 308-km journey from Mormugao to Koppal in Karnataka, where 28
factories receive coal from Adani Mormugao Port Terminal Ltd. Transporters say
the comparative cost is Rs 1,500 from Mangalore Port, over 400 km south of
Koppal; and, Rs 1,200 from Andhra’s Krishnapatnam, over 500 km east.
That is why experts advise better regulation than a shutdown. “The economy of
Goa revolves around mining. When the mining ban was in place, everybody lost
jobs, it hit the state’s GDP. Coal is a different matter; in this case, coal coming in is
for industries outside. Still, the solution is not to ban any economic activity. The
government has to ensure that the state has the infrastructure to contain the
pollution caused, and corporates are allowed to import only after various measures
are put in place,” says Peter F X D’Lima, board member and former director of the
Goa Institute of Management.
A coal train at the Kulem station, before it starts the climb through the Western Ghats to
reach the JSW steel plant in Toranagallu. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
‘Rules broken, limits crossed’
Vedanta did not respond to queries seeking comment. A spokesperson for JSW
says the group “maintains high standards of environmental compliance”. A
spokesperson for the Adani group says the company takes “utmost care to preserve
the environment and comply with all applicable rules and regulations”.
In July, the Goa State Pollution Control
Board (GSPCB) issued show-cause notices
to Mormugao Port Trust, JSW’s South West
Port Ltd (Berths No 5A and 6A), and Adani
Mormugao Port Terminal Pvt Ltd (Berth
No.7) for allegedly violating pollution norms
listed in the consent awarded to operate coal.
The board also initiated the process to
conduct a Proportionate Source
Apportionment Study for Air Quality in
Vasco through IIT Bombay and asked the
corporates to “jointly/severally contribute
periodically toward the expenses
incurred…”
Along with the notice, the GSPCB listed a
number of directions: coal stacks not more
than 5m high, continuous use of water
sprinklers, coal stacks and trucks covered
with tarpaulin at all times. The two corporates were further asked why the consent
to operate coal, which was issued by the GSPCB, should not be revoked since they
were operating their unit in violation of the provision of the Air (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The 2015-16 annual report of the GSPCB states
that “as per their Ambient Air Quality Monitoring of Mormugao Port Trust, the
PM10 reading exceeded the permissible limits on 14 out of 24 readings”.
The Goa government, meanwhile, informed the State Assembly during this
monsoon session that it was planning to initiate criminal proceedings against South
West Port Ltd for having violated pollution norms.
Official records also show that coal in excess of what’s been permitted is being
handled at the port. For instance, they show, the JSW Group has been exceeding its
import capacity since 2012, getting 10.11 million tonnes in 2016-2017 alone,
against an awarded consent of 5.48 million tonnes. This year, the GSPCB wrote to
South West Port Ltd to state that it was reducing its permitted capacity by 25 per
cent, to 4.125 million tonnes annually.
A report prepared by the port itself admits: “The consent to operate was exceeded
from the year 2011-12 onward and the PPP operator has not obtained permission
from GSPCB for enhancing the limits. It is understood that South West Port
Limited has submitted a proposal to MoEF under an amnesty scheme and (this) is
under consideration.”
JINDAL – ADANI- VEDANTA are the Big Three with three coal berths operated by them.
Together they import thermal and coking coal for steel plants in the Deccan Hinterland. (Express
Photograph Amit Chakravarthy)
Adani responds: ‘We abide by all norms’
Responding to queries from The Indian Express, a spokesperson for the Adani
Group writes:
Our berth No.7 in Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) has consent to operate for 5.2
MMT per annum, however we have handled only 1.9 MMT in 2016-17. This
indicates that we are operating at about 36 per cent of the capacity allowed. We
serve industries based in Goa and logistically advantageous destinations in
Karnataka to achieve a higher throughput at MPT. This provides more employment
and revenue to the state without violating the installed and revised capacity norms
by GSPCB (Goa State Pollution Control Board).
For handling of coal, we abide by all established norms by MPT/GSPCB in order
to control pollution well below the required parameters. The berth No.7 facility is
equipped with state-of-the-art environment friendly mechanised cargo handling
systems which ensure restriction of coal dust at each of the coal handling points,
from vessel to conveyor systems, conveyor systems to storage yard, storage yard to
dispatch stations.
We have installed AQMS, which displays ambient air quality readings at the site as
well as live data feed to central and state pollution control authorities to monitor air
quality of the region on real-time basis. Furthermore, monthly reports are
submitted to authorities as required by the regulations.
JSW responds: ‘Committed to regulatory compliance’
Responding to queries from The Indian Express, a spokesperson for JSW writes:
JSW imports metallurgical coal and coke, raw material used for firing blast
furnaces, for its Vijaynagar steel plant through Mormugao Port, Goa. It is a wellrecognised fact that such grade of coal is not dusty and contains up to 8% moisture,
which further controls fugitive emissions.
At Mormugao Port, Goa, JSW owns two berths (5A and 6A) cumulatively
admeasuring 450 metres and can serve one vessel (290 metres) at a time. For
storage and cargo handling, the port only has about 33000-m2 land, which further
limits the handling capacity of these berths.
In our effort to upgrade, we are replacing the existing equipment with superior
ones to further improve efficiency, safety and sustenance of these berths while
ensuring that our operations continue to be in line with environmental regulations.
Our focus in installing better technology and environmental-friendly equipment
would further improve efficiency of these berths’ handling capacity within the
confines of the same berth size and storage area.
We applied for necessary clearances with the respective regulatory authorities both
at State and Centre in mid-2015 and are awaiting approvals. JSW is committed to
all regulatory compliance. Our application towards the amnesty scheme was filed
in 2016 and is currently pending for hearing leading to clearance. The final
presentation on our facility upgradation is scheduled for the last week of October,
2017.
JSW’s steel plant at Vijaynagar is a 12 MTPA manufacturing unit and requires
about 40 MTPA of raw material annually, which could not be met only by our
berths at Mormugao Port, Goa, which is among many such facilities at other ports
that are used for importing raw material and exporting finished goods. Our import
cost as well as railway freight is in line with tariffs fixed by Government of India.