Neyveli Lignite, SAIL draw flak from NGOs

THE BRICKBATS

Award-winning companies accused of overdrawing water and driving away elephants.

Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC) and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), recipients of Ficci-Social Economic Development Foundation's corporate social responsibility (CSR) award, are now being criticised for over-utilising ground water and driving away elephants. The allegations have been made by NGOs Mines, Minerals and People (MMP) and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).

MMP has charged NLC with sapping ground water to the extent of leaving 200 nearby villages dry for ever, while WTI has charged SAIL with destruction of an elephant corridor in Jharkhand, the state where the steel-manufacturing company has mines.

NLC received the CSR award for its rehabilitation programmes for the villagers displaced due to lignite mining. NCL provided permanent jobs to 1,837 people and contract employment to another 3,200. NLC also provided resettlement sites, and organised planting of 1.8 crore trees in the township, according to NCL chairman and MD S Jayaraman.

However, MMP convenor R Sreedhar says he showed photos of the damage done by NLC to Jayaraman before the CSR award was given to the PSU. "Greenery is only where the company is (situated). The villages around the NCL establishment are parched as the mines have drained all the water," says Sreedhar.

Says Amita Verma of Business and Community Foundation, an NGO which helped Ficci verify an applicant's credentials for the CSR award: "I was in touch with MMP but they never substantiated their allegations by naming the (affected) villages. They themselves have not put anything about their funding on their websites," says Verma.

Verma added that she had "raised the issue with Jayaraman" and he despatched four of his officials to Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) to discuss the matter "soon after the award was given''.

As for SAIL, the company is drawing flak from elephant lovers. "An elephant corridor has been lost at Kiriburu, Joda and Bardil mines where the company has its biggest captive iron ore deposits. More recently, in Manoharpur mines, they have been running trucks through the day shutting out elephants completely. These awards don't mean a thing. It is just about scratching each other's back. And CSR itself is an eyewash," says Dr Rakesh Kumar Singh of WTI.

The award to SAIL has been given on the basis of its work in Bhilai, admits Verma, but is quick to add that no one had raised the "elephant issue" earlier. It is time NGOs pull up their socks and do their jobs better, she says.

SAIL General Manager (Corporate Affairs) Devdeep Rath said the matter is disputed and in court, adding that in SAIL, nothing happens without the government's approval.