Illegal installations in the vicinity of the Sundarbans  

The latest information about more than a hundred small and medium-sized industrial units' location in the vicinity of the Sundarbans makes a bad case not just for the environmentalists but also for all conscious citizens. This is more so when the government's firm stance on Rampal coal-fired power plant remains a contentious issue in view of its likely adverse impact on the ecology of the mangrove forest. Reports now have it that the Department of Environment (DoE), in a recent submission to the High Court Division, mentioned the existence of 190 industrial units within 10 kilometres of the Sundarbans. Of these, 24 industries and factories are in the red category meaning they are a potential threat to the forest ecology, especially the flora and fauna. The remaining installations, though not, what appears to be, so threat-prone, were either approved by the authorities or set up in violation of rules that prohibit operation of such units within 10 kms of the forest. This revelation came in response to a public-interest litigation writ petition by a lawyer, himself an environmental activist.

The DoE report is quite disappointing. It is not difficult to discern from the report about methodical violation of rules for more than a decade. And the acts of violation were done by none other than the concerned authorities by way of giving site clearance and approval for setting up industries and factories. Clearly, allowing industrial units adjacent to the forest belt is in violation of the Environment and Forest Ministry's gazette notification on August 30, 1999 declaring the Sundarbans a reserved location, also specifying 10 km area around it as 'environmentally critical'. In 2017, a High Court bench directed the government not to give permission for setting up industries in the prohibited zone. It had also asked the government to explain why setting up of 156 new industries in the zone in 2016 should not be declared illegal. Nothing in the form of actions has taken place as yet.

However disconcerting this may be, violation of rules meant to protect the ecology of the world's largest mangrove forest is not altogether out of sync with the not-so-infrequent flouting of rules and regulations, even court verdicts, by the vested quarters in the country these days. There have lately been occasional moves to restore order and rule of law through demolition of structures and reclamation of illegally occupied lands and property. But it still remains a far cry to see those applied to all such acts of mischief. One of the reasons is obviously the collusion factor -- the nexus between the authorities and the wrongdoers. The industrial installations in the prohibited vicinity of the Sundarbans are no exception.

Environmentalists have come down heavy on the issue demanding demolition of all the harmful industrial units. They have also demanded a thorough scrutiny of all other units that are believed to have been set up with or without site clearance and approval of the authorities. The case in point here is - since the 10 km area has already been declared as environmentally critical, giving site clearance or approval is absolutely beside the point. The government must not be benign in the least to the transgressors.