Orissa industrialisation lands in trouble

Prafulla Das

The Naveen Patnaik Government's ambitious plans could flounder on the issue of land acquisition.

GROWING OPPOSITION to land acquisition has emerged as a major barrier to the ambitious industrialisation plans of the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government in Orissa.

Protests have broken out Statewide against the displacement caused by land acquisition for industries. More so after the police firing at Kalinga Nagar in which 13 tribals were killed on January 2. The recent approval of special economic zone status to several upcoming mineral-based industries has added impetus to the people's opposition to land acquisition.

In fact, people's reluctance to give up their land to make space for industries seems to be growing apace with the speed at which the alliance government continues to sign memoranda of understanding with private companies for setting up industries in different parts of the State.
Poor rehabilitation of those displaced earlier is a major factor for the people's opposition.

By now, the land required by different companies to house their industries has already crossed the 1,00,000 acres mark. This requirement is in addition to the land the companies would get on lease for mining iron ore, bauxite, coal, and other minerals.

A total of 45 MoUs had been signed in the steel sector; the number of valid agreements stands at 42 at present following the cancellation of three. But the number of these MoUs is set to grow in the coming months as several other companies are waiting for the clearance of their proposals.

Besides, the State government has already signed 13 MoUs for setting up of thermal power projects that also require land both for their plants and mining of coal. Ten of these MoUs were signed on a single day last month (September 26).

That the Naveen Patnaik Government has failed in acquiring land for various industries is getting clearer by the day. The authorities have so far not been able to persuade the tribals of Kalinga Nagar to vacate their land. The tribals continue to block the Daitari-Paradip national highway near Kalinga Nagar since January 2 saying a firm no to displacement.

In the coastal villages spread over three gram panchayats in Jagatsinghpur, where a 12 million tonne capacity steel mill is planned, the situation is equally bad. The Government has agreed to hand over possession of 1,135 acres at Rs.25,000 per acre, but the steel company has not been able to take possession of any land in the area till date.

In its efforts to cope with the people's opposition to displacement, the company brought down its land requirement from 4,500 acres to 4,004 acres, but to no avail. The families facing displacement by the project have now blocked entry for both government and company officials to the area.

The Government has also not been able to earmark 30 acres in Bhubaneswar where the company plans to set up its office and a residential colony for its staff members. The company continues to run its office from space hired in a government building in the city. Its officials are living in private houses taken on rent.

Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik continues to welcome all and promise land, minerals, water, and other help to create employment opportunities for the people, the whole exercise is threatening to flounder over land acquisition. Instead of creating an environment of economic prosperity, the industrialisation process seems to be creating social tensions in the proposed industrial hubs and mining zones.

The officials of various companies that have started offices in the State are now running from pillar to post to take possession of land required for their projects. But in most cases, these officials are in a fix. They are unable to raise their voice against the bureaucrats dealing with the land acquisition process and convince the people facing displacement to give land for new industries.

Capturing the aftermath of a tragedy

Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR: Almost seven years after the super-cyclone that ripped coastal Orissa claiming over 8,000 human lives, the trials and tribulations of its survivors have been portrayed in an Oriya feature film.

Kathantara (The Another Story) highlights the plight of Kalpana, a young woman who lost her husband in the storm. The narrative unfolds with the observance of the anniversary of the cyclone that hit on October 29, 1999.

Produced by Iti Samanta, editor of Kadambini, an Oriya monthly, the film is directed by Himanshu Khatua, whose debut film Sunya Swaroopa (Contours of the Void) won the national award for Best Oriya Feature Film in 1997.

Kathantara depicts the insecurity that dominated the minds of the Bangladeshi migrant families living in the coastal villages of the State. Many of these families were issued notices to quit India.

Kalpana, the lead woman character, who survived the super-cyclone, finally decides to marry the young Oriya man who saved her from death. Daughter of a Bangladeshi refugee who was born in Orissa, she approaches him after she is served with a notice to leave the country. Anu Chaudhury played the role.

The film shows the ordeals of Kalpana's sister-in-law Rupa, another survivor who is struggling with an abusive husband whom she married after her husband's death in the cyclone.

Kathantara provides a picture of the cyclone survivors taking shelter at the short-stay homes run by NGOs, adoption of children who lost both their parents in the storm and the media's role in the aftermath of the tragedy.

It was shot in the villages of Ersama block that was badly ravaged by the cyclone and hamlets of Kendrapara with their Bangladeshi settlers.

Orissa witnesses frenzied investment activity

Prafulla Das

Steel, power, alumina refineries chief gainers
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State of choice
Over Rs 4,00,000 cr in mineral-based industries
Huge investments in IT, tourism, and education
Private cos evince interest in ports, rail links and roads
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Bhubaneswar , July 23

Orissa is currently witnessing a spurt in investment activity.

After Reliance Energy's announcement on Friday on setting up a 12,000 MW power plant at a total investment of Rs 60,000 crore, Bhushan Steel and Strips on Saturday submitted a proposal to increase the capacity of its upcoming steel mill from three million tonnes to nine million tonnes at an additional investment of Rs 15,000 crore.

Orissa has so far attracted private investments of over Rs 4,00,000 crore for setting up mineral-based industries such as steel mills, power plants, and alumina refineries.

Besides, the State is also attracting huge investments in IT, tourism, and education.

Ceremonies of signing of agreements and powerpoint presentations have become a routine activity in the conference hall outside the Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik's office.

Teams of officials from various companies are seen meeting top officials of different Departments and Ministers to apprise them of their requirement of land, iron ore, bauxite, coal, and water.

In the steel sector, 43 MoUs have been signed for the production of 58 million tonnes of steel annually at a total investment of around Rs 1,40,000 crore.

The 44th agreement is likely to be signed shortly with Arcelor-Mittal for a 12-million-tonne steel mill at an investment of Rs 40,000 crore.

The rush to make steel gained momentum towards the last quarter of 2004 after officials of the Korean steel major, Posco, visited the State and announced plans to set up a 12-million-tonne steel plant at an investment of Rs 51,000 core, the highest ever FDI in the country.

The major players who have signed agreements are Posco, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power, Sterlite Iron and Steel Company, and Essar.

In the energy sector, apart from Reliance Energy, major companies that have come forward to set up power plants include NLC, Tata Power Company, Sterlite Energy, KBK Nilachal, and Monnet Ispat.

Three companies - GMR Energy, Aban Power, and Nav Bharat Ferro Alloys - have finalised their proposals.

Besides, the State Government has announced that it would launch a joint venture company to produce 1,000 MW.

The projected investment in thermal power projects has crossed the Rs 1,50,000-crore mark.

With regard to aluminium, Vedanta Alumina is constructing a one-million-tonne refinery in Kalahandi at an investment of Rs 4,500 crore.

Utkal Alumina has also begun the process of construction of a one-million-tonne refinery in Rayagada district at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

The Aditya Birla Group has signed MoU to set up a three-million-tonne alumina complex with an investment of Rs 12,000 crore.

An L&T-Dubai Aluminium Company joint venture has also expressed its desire to put up a refinery at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore.

Development of ports is also attracting investments. The Dhamra Port Company has already initiated construction at Dhamra in Bhadrak district.

Private companies have also invested in construction of rail links and roads.

In the IT sector, Infosys and Satyam are already operating in the State. Wipro, TCS, Hexaware, and MindTree, have inked MoUs to set up facilities.

Education and tourism are other sectors attracting investments.

The Anil Agarwal Foundation has announced the setting up of a multi-disciplinary University at an investment of Rs 15,000 crore.

It will accommodate 100,000 students.

The Tata Group has completed construction of a budget hotel in Bhubaneswar and is planning four more such hotels in the State.

Hurt pride

DISINVESTMENT

Hurt pride


THE Centre's decision on Nalco was immediately opposed by the 7,000-odd employees of the company, trade unions and political parties. What added momentum to the agitation was the feeling of the common man that Nalco was Orissa's pride. While the workers of Nalco abstained from work, political parties organised rallies and demonstrations.

The workers at the company's smelter at Angul observed a 12-hour strike on June 23. Workers at the company's refinery in Damanjodi (Koraput district) stopped work for 24 hours on June 24. The officers and workers at the company's corporate office in Bhubaneswar abstained from work on June 26.

On June 25, all major Central trade unions held a State-level convention in Bhubaneswar to decide a course of action. Apart from the union leaders, representatives of various political parties and leaders of Nalco employees' unions attended the convention, which unanimously criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The participants termed the Centre's decision `anti-people' and said there was no reason to sell equity in Nalco when the company's profits had been rising every year. Several of them alleged that the Centre was using Orissa as a laboratory for testing its dubious policies and promised that the people of Orissa would not remain silent spectators.

The trade unions vowed to bring to a halt all Central government establishments, including railways, ports, industries, and postal services, in Orissa on June 30. They decided that if the Centre did not change its decision after the strike, an all-party delegation would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and a State-wide bandh would be called.

Presiding over the convention, veteran trade union leader and former Member of Parliament Shivaji Patnaik warned that the agitation against disinvestment of Nalco would go on until the plan was dropped and urged political parties to put up a combined fight.

The unions that participated in the convention included the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the United Trade Union Congress (Lenin Sarani) and the All India Council of Central Trade Unions (AICCTU).

Lalit Mohan Patnaik, chairman of the Central Coordination Committee of Nalco unions, pointed out that mobilising resistance this time was easier than in 2001 when the NDA tried to sell the company to a `strategic partner'. Clearly, the ruling Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) decision to take the fight to the Centre has given a boost to those opposing the disinvestment move.

As opposition to the move grew among workers and trade unions, the BJD led from the front. Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik wrote to the Prime Minister, urging him to reconsider the decision. The party's Koraput unit observed a bandh in Damanjodi on June 26, paralysing normal life in the small industrial town. Production was affected in the refinery that day as many workers did not turn up. The party's various wings took turns to stage demonstrations outside the Nalco corporate office in the following days.

The BJP did not want to be left out of the action. Its youth wing staged a demonstration in Bhubaneswar. A senior leader, Vinay Katiyar, while on a visit to the State, demanded immediate withdrawal of the plan. He, however, found it difficult to clarify his party's position, since a similar move had been made during the NDA regime.

Congress leaders of the State were also in a difficult situation. Instead of participating in the protests, they rushed to New Delhi to lobby with the party high command to reconsider the decision.

The Left parties were comfortably placed. Their stand on the issue had remained unchanged. Janardhan Pati, secretary of the state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that his party had always been opposed to the privatisation of profit-making public undertakings and would continue to oppose such moves.

Prafulla Das

Orissa bans Maoists

Orissa bans Maoists

The Orissa government finally outlawed the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and seven pro-Maoist organisations on June 9. Maoists are active in 14 of the 30 districts in the State and have been gaining strength by the day. The seven front organisations that have been declared unlawful are the Daman Pratirodh Manch, the Revolutionary Democratic Front, the Chasi Mulia Samiti, the Kui Lawanga Sangh, the Jana Natya Mandali, the Krantikari Kisan Samiti and the Bal Sangam. The CPI (Maoist) and the outlawed organisations have condemned the ban. They staged a two-day road blockade agitation on June 14 and 15 to register their protest against both the ban and police action in the interior pockets.

The State Cabinet has approved a rehabilitation policy for extremists who surrender and return to the social mainstream. It was advertised in several newspapers in the days following the announcement of the package. A week later, no one had responded.

The ban has come without any immediate provocation from the Maoists. The government did not impose a ban when hundreds of armed Maoists launched a wildcat attack on the district headquarter town of Koraput in February 2004 and looted a large cache of arms from the district armoury; nor when extremists raided R. Udayagiri town in Gajapati district on March 24 this year, freed 40 prisoners from a jail and abducted two police officers. The ban has come about now because those in the corridors of power have began to believe that the Maoists are the biggest obstacle to the ongoing industrialisation in the State.

For the past few months, the Maoists have put several barriers in the way of industrialisation. They and their sympathisers are opposing mineral-based industries and mining because these have caused large-scale displacement of tribal people. The opposition became shriller after the police firing at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district on January 2. Thirteen tribal people were killed in clashes with the police when they opposed the construction of a boundary wall of a proposed steel plant.

The ban has been imposed at a time when an ill-equipped State police is facing the Maoist onslaught. For example, the police failed to prevent extremists from felling a large number of trees to block roads in Malkangiri, Gajapati and Rayagada districts on the night of June 13 to enforce their road blockade agitation. Two more India Reserve Battalions have been sanctioned by the Centre, but it may be two years from now for these battalions to become operational.
The State is now tackling the Maoists by deploying three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalions provided by the Centre. One more battalion is likely to be deployed in the Maoist-hit pockets shortly. The government is now trying to woo the rebels through rehabilitation, which provides for screening of surrendered ultras by a district-level committee.

The rehabilitation package will consist of a payment up to Rs.10,000 on surrender; a payment up to Rs.20,000 on surrendering arms and ammunitions; allotment of a homestead plot, a house-building grant of up to Rs.25,000 and payment of Rs.15,000 for marriage. It will also include assistance to secure a bank loan of up to Rs.2 lakhs, and a payment of a subsidy up to Rs.50,000 after repayment of 75 per cent of the loan, which is interest-free for the first two years. Extremists who surrendered would be paid the reward money declared on their heads and receive free medical treatment in government hospitals.

Pro-Maoist organisations are now preparing to challenge the ban in the High Court. Until recently, the government treated the Maoist menace as a socio-economic problem and not just as an issue of law and order. But the ban has drawn clear battle lines between the government and the Maoists.

It may not solve the problem but it might act as a morale-booster to the police, but the government must also win back the confidence of the tribal people in the backward districts, who are leaning towards the ultras.

PRAFULLA DAS

Resettlement and resentment in Orissa

Rehabilitation and resentment

The Orissa government has adopted a policy to resettle and rehabilitate people who would be displaced by new industries and other development projects. The new policy, which appears to be silent on the questions raised by those resisting displacement, has been welcomed by the industry. However, critics have termed it `pro-industry'.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Ministerial and bureaucratic colleagues were jolted out of their zeal for indiscriminate industrialisation on January 2 when 13 tribal people fell to police bullets during their protest against the construction of a boundary wall for the proposed Tata Steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district. (Frontline, February 10).

The draft resettlement and rehabilitation policy gathered dust since last July. As the struggle against the steel plant project of Korean steel-maker POSCO gained momentum in Jagatsinghpur district, and tribal resistance increased after the Kalinga Nagar incident, the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government announced its plan to implement the new policy soon.

A five-member Ministerial Committee was formed to finalise the draft policy after consulting representatives of the Opposition, non-governmental organisations, tribal leaders and experts. The Committee cleared the policy even as the Kalinga Nagar deadlock continued. The State Cabinet approved the policy after incorporating certain changes to make the rehabilitation package more attractive. For instance, the financial assistance for building houses was increased to Rs.1.5 lakh from Rs.50,000. The policy stated that gram sabha will be consulted before finalising the plan.

The plan allows a project proponent to purchase land directly from the people and promises to enhance the one-time cash assistance in lieu of employment/ self-employment to Rs.5 lakhs, Rs.3 lakhs, Rs.2 lakhs and Rs.1 lakhs for different categories against the earlier provisions of Rs.2 lakhs, Rs.1 lakhs, and Rs.50, 000. It states that industries would be asked to issue convertible preference shares up to a maximum of 50 per cent of the one-time cash assistance at the option of the displaced families and subject to the relevant laws. The cash compensation in lieu of the land would be Rs.1 lakh an acre for irrigated land and Rs.50, 000 for non-irrigated land.

"The new policy indeed has been designed to give a weapon in the hands of the pro-industrialisation forces to silence the genuine voices of protest. The framers of the policy have manipulated certain words to create an illusion that it offers more for the people," said Sudhir Patnaik, a social scientist. "Again, will it be wise to allow the private companies to buy land directly?"

As the new policy allows the government or the project authority to extend additional benefits to the displaced, keeping in view the specific nature of displacement, the State Cabinet also approved special benefits for families facing displacement by the POSCO plant in Jagatsinghpur and projects of Tata Steel and other companies at Kalinga Nagar. In the case of the POSCO project, the government promised compensation of Rs.6,000 for each decimal of land for betel growers, including those on government land. In Kalinga Nagar, where the government acquired land in the early 1990s, it decided to give an additional ex-gratia of Rs.25,000 an acre.

Both Tata Steel and POSCO have welcomed the new policy and the additional benefits announced by the government for those facing displacement. But the people are not happy. Resistance to the POSCO project is growing with the administration's failure to convince the people of their "gains" from the project. In Kalinga Nagar, the situation continues to be volatile. Despite the administration managing to create a division among the locals, those agitating since January 2 by blocking the national highway passing through their area have rejected the new policy.

"We are against displacement," said Rabindra Jarika, convenor of Visthapan Virodhi Janmanch, the organisation that is spearheading the anti-displacement agitation at Kalinga Nagar. "We will not leave our land and homes to make space for industries at any cost. We have rejected the rehabilitation policy as it favours industrialists and supports displacement of the people," Jarika said after the talks between the representatives of the Janmanch and the Chief Minister failed to put an end to the crisis.

The Janmanch has announced that the road block will continue until the government fulfils their demands, including the dropping of cases registered against their activists. It has also decided not to extend its cooperation to the judicial commission probing the January 2 firing.

Prafulla Das

A step too far

CONTROVERSY

A step too far

PRAFULLA DAS
in Bhubaneswar

Budhia Singh's record-breaking run sets off a public debate involving the issue of child rights.

IT is early morning. A frail four-year-old boy is playing with a toy at the Orissa State Judo Association complex in Bhubaneswar. Taking a break, he starts explaining the toy's operation to his mother. When his mother shows little interest, the boy starts playing again, sucking his thumb at times. He is Budhia Singh, whose long-distance running has generated a nationwide debate.

Little Budhia, who seems to be unaware of the differences between his coach Biranchi Das and Orissa's Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick, not to mention the debate itself, stays busy with the toy presented to him by the correspondent of a television channel. As he moves from one place to another with his toy in hand, three television camerapersons capture his every movement. The wonder boy, who made to it the record books by running 65 km in 7.02 hours from Puri to Bhubaneswar, seems to have got used to cameras, which have chased him since he came into the limelight in July last year.

Television cameras follow Budhia - they do so virtually everywhere he goes. When he is called to have breakfast along with other children at the Judo training centre, the cameras focus on him from different angles. After breakfast Das, who is also his foster father, takes him to the Gautam Nagar slum cluster in the city, where his earlier home is situated, on the request of the television crews. Such trips are arranged as and when television journalists from different parts of the country and abroad want him there for a few shots.

Often media correspondents ask the boy marathoner and his coach to repeat whatever they say or do. Innocent Budhia also obliges them when he is requested to re-explain the functioning of his toy to his mother. He even sings a few lines of the nursery rhymes taught to him in his new English-medium school.

May 2 was the day that Budhia made headlines across the world. But it was not the first time that he ran from Puri to Bhubaneswar. The coach claims that the boy had run between these two places as many as 10 times before, though the distances were always within 60 km. On many occasions, runs of varying distances at different locations were also organised by Das to satisfy television crews. It seems Das obliged virtually everybody who wanted to shoot Budhia running.

Budhia's previous runs in different parts of Orissa and in other States had earned him a reputation as a sports whiz-kid from Orissa. Despite reports criticising long-distance running by a boy so young, the public lapped up the media coverage and the felicitations. A beaming Das, with the lovable kid in his arms, was soon adorning stages across the State as every organisation tried to outdo the other in having him as the star attraction. Governor Rameshwar Thakur, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, several Ministers in the State and other dignitaries felicitated Das at many gatherings.

At this juncture, controversy erupted. The Orissa State Council for Child Welfare questioned Das for making the boy run long distances at a tender age. "The boy should not be subjected to severe physical exertion by being made to run long distances, and that too so frequently. This could prove disastrous for him," said Sanjukta Mohanty, Secretary of the Council. "If Budhia were Biranchi Das's own child, he would not make him run like this," she said.

Pramila Mallick's criticism against the coach soon followed: "Biranchi Das is using Budhia as a madari uses his performing monkey. The way the boy is being made to run is inhuman," she alleged.

Meanwhile, the Child Welfare Committee of Khurda district issued summons to Das asking him to appear before it to discuss the child's performance and future. Das, already peeved by the public criticism from Pramila Mallick and others, moved the Orissa High Court to challenge the summons.

As the High Court was preparing to act upon his petition, Das organised Budhia's most controversial run with support from the Central Reserve Police Force. With this race, the most ambitious thus far for the child prodigy, Das aimed to ensure Budhia's entry into the Limca Book of Records. Although he achieved his target, events spun out of his hands; Budhia failed to complete the 70 km target and the run ended at 65 km when he collapsed owing to sheer fatigue. The boy vomited at the hospital he was rushed to.

Many television channels showed special reports on Budhia's achievement as the youngest boy to run 65 km at one go, and he occupied space in newspapers and news portals. Only some reports, however, mentioned the exhaustion and vomiting that brought Budhia's run to an end. The next day, the National Human Rights Commission asked the Orissa government to furnish a report on the run. Everybody praised Budhia for creating a record, but Das got brickbats as well as bouquets.

On May 5, a police team reached the Judo Association premises and took the boy and Das to the government-run Capital Hospital, on the orders of the Child Welfare Committee. The boy was examined by a board of four doctors, including a specialist from the Sports Authority of India's Kolkata Centre, to ascertain his health condition.

In its report, the board said that Budhia should not be subjected to long-distance running as the risk of heat stroke increased in a child if it was allowed to run long distances. Budhia may also suffer growth retardation owing to damage at the growing ends of long bones and early onset of an osteoarthritis, which may cripple the child in future, the report said. "The child may also become a subject of burnt-out syndrome," the doctors said. They recommended proper training under a qualified coach to hone his talent.

Das, who described Pramila Mallick's stand and the Committee's concern as "harassment", retaliated by getting Budhia examined by a cardiologist working in a private hospital. The cardiologist's report termed the medical board's findings "premature" and suggested that the boy be allowed to run long distances.

Pramila Mallick, however, did not shrink away from fighting Budhia's case. The Child Welfare Committee had requested the government to ensure that long-distance running by the child is not organised again, she said, while warning that Das may face arrest if he makes Budhia run long distances. "Making Budhia run long distances might constitute an offence of cruelty to the child which was punishable under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000," she said.

Interestingly, while Das and Pramila Mallick were busy criticising each other, Sports and Youth Services Minister Debashis Nayak appeared to be supporting the coach. Nayak was present when the boy finished his 65 km run. He also attended the function organised to celebrate Budhia's latest achievement the next evening. For some time, nobody was able to understand whether the government was with the coach or against him. As confusion prevailed, Naveen Patnaik clarified that Budhia was an extraordinary child and his health should be monitored.
While government representatives fought with the coach, the debate raged in the public arena. A section of the public interpreted the government's moves as a crude attempt to nip young talent in the bud.

A little-known political outfit organised a rally against the government's attempts to prevent the coach from making the boy run long distances. Supporters of Das did not seem to realise that international norms prevent children below 12 years of age from participating in marathons, a distance of 42.195 km.

Pramila Mallick also had a section of the public and a few child rights activists supporting her stand. Upset with the defiant stand taken by Das, they clarified that they wanted Budhia to long-distance running, but not at this tender age.

They blamed Das for pushing the child too far at the cost of his health. Surprisingly, people on both sides of the divide were not ready to accept the fact that they all wanted Budhia to excel as a marathoner.

Even as the matter was pending before the High Court, the debate took new turns by the day with everybody trying hard to prove his or her point. But nobody attempted to find out what was going on in Budhia's mind.

Budhia's rise is truly a fairy tale come true. Das rescued him after his widowed mother Sukanti sold him to a vendor for Rs.800 and began training him in Judo. The discovery of his talent was equally astonishing. One day, Das asked Budhia to run in the training hall as punishment for using filthy words. He claimed that seven hours later, after he returned from some work, he found the boy still running. Realising the remarkable stamina of the indefatigable child, Das started training him as a runner.

Meanwhile, the cheerful Budhia has already featured in a music video encouraging him to run long distances and make Orissa proud. "I want to run to make my country feel proud of me," says the child.

No one says Budhia should not be groomed as a marathoner. The boy must get an opportunity to practise in peace under a qualified trainer. For this, the authorities, his coach and his mother must sit together and thrash out their differences.

Water going private

Flawed policy

By Prafulla Das in Bhubaneswar

ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY

A dried-up canal of the Panasjhar minor irrigation project in Khurda district in Orissa.

ORISSA has 4 per cent of India's population, but possesses 11 per cent of the country's water resources. Yet, water is scarce in the State and the situation does not seem set to improve, with a growing population, rising demands in agriculture and industry and the absence of a comprehensive water policy.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently made an ambitious announcement that irrigation facilities would be provided for at least 35 per cent of the cultivable land in all blocks of the State in the next five years. An official report reveals that irrigation coverage extends to less than 35 per cent of the cultivable land in about 200 blocks. Patnaik's promise to reverse this in five years has few takers.

It is the absence of a comprehensive water policy that seems to be in the way of any improvement in the situation. The State formulated a water policy in 1994, based on the national water policy of 1987. When a revised national water policy was adopted in 2002, Orissa decided to review and update its own policy. The process of working it out is still on. "The revised draft policy was submitted to the State government a few months ago by the Water Resource Department. A few changes have been suggested. We are working on the new policy again and it will be submitted soon," U.P. Singh, Secretary of the Water Resource Department, told Frontline.

Some voluntary organisations have alleged that the State government is planning to treat water as a tradable commodity and that the new policy would allow private participation in water management. U.P. Singh said the allegations were "baseless". "Water will continue to be treated as a valuable natural resource and there is nothing in it to conclude that water is being privatised," he said.

However, the final draft of the State Water Plan, drawn up by the Orissa Water Planning Organisation in September 2004, advocates privatisation of water. "The Government of Orissa, in particular, has very limited budgetary resources and cannot find money for new development. There are not even any funds for maintenance of already existing works. Thus, the water service sector is in an unsatisfactory state," the draft says.

The latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General also points to the losses suffered by the major and medium irrigation projects of Orissa. In 2003-04, the 52 major and medium irrigation projects incurred a loss of Rs.193.66 crores. Six of 11 major irrigation projects incurred losses of above Rs.10 crores each.

The State Water Plan says that the answer to the problem lies in seeking private participation in the development and management of water resources. However, it also sounds a word of caution, saying that private participation in all spheres of water management would not be wise. "Only surplus water should be allowed to be exploited commercially and only for production of commercial goods," it suggests.

The Plan also floats the idea of introducing volumetric pricing of water. "A gradual changeover is recommended - the sooner, the better. Immediately, the micro systems may be converted to the volumetric system. Supply to pani panchayats [water users' associations] may be made on volumetric basis," it says.

All this seems to indicate there is some truth in the allegation that the government's much-hyped pani panchayat scheme is a veiled attempt to privatise water in the name of farmers' participation in irrigation management.

The government aims to hand over all irrigation projects to pani panchayats in a phased manner, under the scheme started in 2002. So far, 8.01 lakh hectares of land has been handed over to the 13,284 pani panchayats registered under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860.

The government claims that this participatory irrigation management programme allows farmers to take decisions regarding the distribution and management of water resources in irrigated farmlands. In reality, the programme seems to have created a divide between big farmers on the one hand and small farmers and landless peasants on the other. With the virtual withdrawal of the state from the scene, big farmers exercise more influence.

Landless peasants are not even able to become members of the pani panchayats. "The rich families of our village, who own vast areas of agricultural land, run the pani panchayat. We are just cultivating their land and paying them 50 per cent of the paddy we produce during the kharif season and 25 per cent of the produce during the rabi season," said Musa Badhai, a tribal farmer of Nuapada village of Khurda district who has no land of his own. The Panasjhar minor irrigation project in his village is now being managed by a pani panchayat.

The Orissa government plans to develop 11 river basins, with help from international banks. But the State is not prepared to meet the serious deficit that is bound to arise with growth. A government survey shows that the demand for water will rise from 54,895 million cubic metres (mcum) in 2001 to 83,538 mcum in 2050, a rise of 52 per cent against the total water availability of 91,000 mcum, which will remain unchanged. The study was made in 2004, and the actual demand in 2050 could be far higher because there are many industrial projects that were not taken into account in 2004.

Experts say that the 50-odd steel and aluminium units planned so far are expected to consume a huge volume of water. But the authorities insist that this increased demand will not affect the supply of water for drinking and domestic use.

Public money worth crores has been pumped into irrigation projects, but the State has not been able to manage its water resources efficiently. International aid agencies and foreign banks are now keen to give loans for the management of water. But with water management slowly falling into private hands, it remains to be seen how much the people benefit.

Little to drink

Water-borne crisis

PRAFULLA DAS
in Bhubaneswar

The CAG blames the Orissa government's failure to provide safe potable water for the outbreak of diseases in the State.

WHILE natural disasters and starvation are known to take their toll regularly on Orissa, contaminated water seems to be emerging as the latest lethal killer, particularly in the urban pockets of the State. According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG), which was tabled in the State Assembly recently, a total of 2,169 people died of water-borne diseases in the State between March 2001 and March 2004. While 4.96 lakh people were affected by acute diarrhoea, another 29,000 suffered from jaundice during the period. "Failure of the government to provide safe potable water led to an epidemic which caused the deaths," the report said.

Lakhs of people in the urban areas are reported to have fallen victim to diseases caused by water contamination. The capital city of Bhubaneswar is no exception to this alarming phenomenon. The main government hospital in the city admitted almost 15 diarrhoea patients a day. A total of 170 patients came for treatment of jaundice last year.

Unofficial reports indicate that cases of jaundice are increasing in the city. About 50 cases have been reported during the past month. However, a senior doctor at the Capital Hospital dispelled fears that the disease had taken the shape of an epidemic. A recent survey, the doctor said, had revealed that jaundice was limited to certain areas of Bhubaneswar. No clear detail about its incidence is available since many people prefer treatment at private clinics or at home through traditional methods.

The situation is neighbouring Cuttack city is equally bad. The government-run Shriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College there receives nearly 20 diarrhoea patients every day and about 25 jaundice patients a month. Cuttack is prone to water-borne diseases as the water lines there are exposed to the sewerage system at several locations.

"The State government has failed to ensure the supply of safe drinking water in the urban areas of the State," said Niranjan Patnaik, senior Congress leader and former Health Minister. Patnaik, who suffered from jaundice last year, said the authorities should conduct regular checks to prevent contamination of drinking water. The leakages in the distribution pipelines should be detected and necessary repair work done at frequent intervals, he suggested.

While the CAG report has criticised the quality of drinking water supplied in the urban areas, no Statewide study has been conducted on the quality of water available in the rural areas where millions of people are clamouring for water. The CAG's survey of Ganjam district found that the quality of water available in 12,446 tubewells sunk over a period of 10 years remained untested. "The water quality of 470 of the 3,403 tubewells tested in the district was not safe," it said.

The report highlighted the laxity of the Public Health Department, which supplies drinking water to the residents of 103 urban local bodies in the State. As per the rules, the quality of water supplied both at source and at the distribution point has to be analysed before supply. But none of the six public health divisions (Bolangir, Bhubaneswar-III, Cuttack-II, Rourkela, Puri and Baripada), where CAG officials conducted inspections, maintained records of analysis of the quality of water supplied. The reports compiled following a few tests and analyses revealed that substandard water was supplied in 13 towns by the public health divisions. Regular testing and analysis in these divisions could not be done owing to the lack of adequate facilities.

According to the report, an analysis of water samples from different sources in Puri conducted by the State Pollution Control Board in July 2001 revealed that the concentration of nitrate was above the limit prescribed for drinking water. The authorities admitted that some tubewells showed bacteriological contamination, apart from having a high pH value indicating pollution owing to the leakage of sewage from adjoining septic tanks and leach pits and open sewage overflows in unprotected drains. The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Puri observed in July 2002 that the water supplied was not potable owing to the presence of coliform in it, which confirmed the supply of substandard water.

The report pointed out that the outbreak of jaundice in Baripada town in June-July 2001 (138 persons were affected) was a clear proof of the supply of contaminated water. Although the authorities claimed that necessary precautions were taken to avoid contamination in the distribution system, there was another outbreak of jaundice in Baripada in January-February 2004 affecting 524 people (there were 25 casualties. Random bacteriological analysis of 102 samples conducted in February 2004 by the State Public Health Laboratory revealed that the water supplied through 39 sources in Baripada was contaminated. The health authorities of Baripada observed that leakages in the distribution pipelines and non-clearance of sewage and drain dirt from the drinking water outlets had led to the contamination.

Rapid growth in urban population during the last decade necessitated the augmentation of the existing water supply systems and the development of new schemes to ensure the supply of at least the minimum quantity of potable water. But the performance of the State government has remained poor on this front too. The authorities not only ignored the quality of water supplied but failed to supply even the minimum quantity of drinking water in areas under 88 of the 103 urban local bodies. The primary objective of the urban water supply scheme is to ensure the supply of a minimum of 70 litres per capita per day (LPCD) of potable water in towns with a population below 20,000; 100 LPCD in towns with a population between 20,000 and one lakh; and 150 LPCD in towns with above one lakh people, as per norms fixed by the Central government. A review by the CAG revealed that the minimum quantity of water was not supplied in areas under the 88 local bodies as of March 2004. The water supplied in areas under 30 local bodies ranged between six and 40 LPCD.

Against 51 local bodies eligible for coverage under the Centre's accelerated urban water supply programme (AUWSP), the State government chose only 24. The Centre approved water supply schemes for these towns between 1994 and 2004. The State government also failed to execute several water supply schemes properly; it took them up without a pre-construction survey. Besides, funds earmarked under the AUWSP were diverted for other purposes.

The issue is not only about contaminated water, non-supply of the minimum quantity of water, irregularities in the execution of water supply schemes and unauthorised diversion of funds. The authorities admit that over one million people living in the urban areas were yet to be supplied piped drinking water. Out of the population of five million in the areas coming under the103 local bodies, around four million were provided with piped water.

Bhubaneswar city alone has 300-odd jhuggi clusters. The government provides drinking water to 109 recognised slums, while those living in the remaining clusters depend on tubewells and other sources.

Meanwhile, State Urban Development Minister Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo has questioned the CAG report. "The CAG report is not 100 per cent correct. The CAG authorities have not taken into consideration many of the submissions made by the Public Health Department. If the water supplied to the various public health divisions was contaminated, it would have caused an epidemic," he said.

About the non-completion of several water supply schemes, Singhdeo blamed his own government for failing to allocate the required funds. The Centre bears half of the cost of each water supply scheme and the State bears the remaining cost as matching share. Continuous shortage of funds and rapid growth in the population were the reasons for his department's failure to provide piped water supply in the urban areas, Singhdeo said.

While the authorities question the CAG findings and people in urban areas live under constant threat of water contamination, the drinking water situation in rural Orissa is turning worse with the water table fast receding in many areas. As many as 8,000 habitations still remain outside the reach of the rural water supply scheme. The majority of tubewells remain defunct, making it difficult for the people to cope with the water crisis, particularly during the summer months.
All the 147 legislators in the Assembly were given copies of the CAG report. Although legislators cutting across party lines raised in the Assembly the issue of water crisis in the rural areas, none of them questioned the supply of substandard water.

Even as the problem of water contamination continued and agitations for safe drinking water were being organised across the State, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reiterated his promise to provide a clean and responsive administration, apparently ignorant of the fact that his government had failed miserably on the drinking water front.

Naveen Patnaik speaks out

In an interview with The Hindu, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reacts to the situation prevailiing in the State in the aftermath of the killing of 12 tribals at Kalinga Nagar on January 2. Rehabilitation of displaced families will be given top priority and his government will also strike a balance between environment and industrialisation, Mr. Patnaik has said.

Tribal power

Finally, the Orissa Government seems to have got up to realise that it needed to put in place a comprehensive resettlement and rehabilitation policy to adequately compensate the tribals who are being displaced by various industries that are coming up in the State. The tribal agitation following the killing of 12 innocent tribal men and women in police firinghas helped in bringing the problems of tribals to the centre-stage of the State's polictics. One only hopes to see that the tribals will get a better deal in the days to come.

Tribal killing

Tribals in Orissa are now up in arms against the State Government's apathy towards those displaced by various industries in the past. As many as 12 tribal men and women were gunned down by the police on January 2 when wthy opposed construction of a boundary wall for the proposed steel plant of Tata Steel at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district. Since then the tribals are strongly opposing mineral-based industrialisation by displacing them from their land and homes.