Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh:
On national television, thousands of villagers were seen running as the police opened fire. Two people died in Sompeta, in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. And in a matter of minutes, the Srikakulam cause became familiar to the rest of the country.
It is a battle that environmentalists and several villages have fought for over an year now. All to save a 90-km ecologically fragile coastal corridor between the Ichchapuram Lagoon and Naupada Swamp where at least four thermal power projects are proposed to come up. The televised protest was against a thermal plant that was to be run by the Nagarjuna Group. The broadcast coincided with environmental clearances for the project being cancelled by the National Environment Appellate Authority, that hears appeals against environment clearances granted by the Union Environment Ministry. What was a bigger victory was that the NEAA asked for wetlands around the country to be identified, so no more such projects come up there.
The Central government has decided to send a team to report ground reality once again to the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union environment ministry. Whether it will reconsider the go-ahead to other three thermal power plants in the region is still open to debate.
In the catchment area of the controversy, 50,000 families who make their living from farming and fishing in this region are livid. Two of the four power projects in Srikakulam, they say, will destroy the Naupada swamps - marshlands that supports biodiversity, water balance and livelihoods in the area.
"Some 10,000 farmers grow two paddy crops and subsidiary crops using water from the swamp. Because of disturbing the balance, the natural water flow to six mandals will be affected,'' says a farmer, M Narsinga Rao.
Within a 10-kilometre radius to the proposed East Coast Energy project in Kakrapalli village, right next to the Naupada Swamps, is the Telineelapuram Bird Sanctuary. That has been declared an Important Bird Area, where rare migratory birds nest and feed. Some 123 bird species have been spotted here.
But all that has been blanked out in the report submitted to the Union government for environmental clearance. The NOC submitted by the state government's environment department doesn't mention the adverse impact it will have on people's livelihoods and rich biodiversity.
The biggest blow of all has come from forest and revenue officials who have, on paper, described this wetland a "wasteland" to gather the necessary permissions for the corporates who want to run power plants whereas even a cursory visit by a layman will force him to conclude otherwise.
Minister incharge of Srikakulam says at least in Sompeta, the revenue records show all the land allotted to Nagarjuna Construction Company as a wasteland. What you see on the ground, if it is different, there is no one to blame.
The State government says it accepted the information that it was presented - and then signed on the dotted line. After all at stake, for the Sompeta Nagarjuna thermal plant was an investment of 12000 crore rupees and for the East Coast Energy Project at Bhavanipadu, Kakrapalli, was 10,000 crore rupees.
To identify and certify lands, there are concerned departments and when they give reports, as state government, we don't need to doubt the veracity of facts mentioned unless proven contrary," says Vatti Vasant Kumar, Minister incharge, Srikakulam.
The central government says it's scrutinizing the issue. "Is the area a waste land or wet land? There are differing views. I have asked the Chief Conservator of forests to get back to me with a report,'' says Jairam Ramesh, Environment Minister.
As politicians try to grab the moral high ground, the villagers here are filled with anger and regret. It took two deaths on television, they say, to shake the iron-like grip of outsiders who were willing to sign away rights and livelihoods that they have no stake in.