The Latest Information on Chamalapura Thermal Power Plant

Syed Tanveeruddin, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

The state government is giving opposite signals concerning Chamalapura thermal power plant. It states one day that it is not proceeding with the project and contradicts it the next day. Doubts have been expressed that the state government may be proceeding ahead covertly with the project.

To get a clear picture of the scenario, I applied under the Right to Information Act to the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the latest status report on the project. I received a reply from MoEF on 20-9-08. This is what it says:

"From our records, it is informed that an environmental clearance was issued by MoEF in 1998, only in respect of a 500 MW (2*250 MW) Mysore thermal power project at Chamalapura by M/s Mysore Power Generation Pvt. Ltd. A photocopy of the environmental clearance issued vide letter no J-13011/9/97-IA.II(T) dated 27.08.1998 is enclosed free of cost. The file relating to the said project is not presently traceable. Efforts are on to locate the file.

"Further, Ministry of Environment and Forests has neither granted environmental clearance to any other coal based thermal power project at Chamalapura, Karnataka nor any such proposal is pending for environmental clearance. As and when any such proposal is received, it will be examined on its merits, based on the Environmental Impact Assessment Report, as specified under the EIA Notification, 2006 in accordance with the procedure prescribed therein, inter-alia through a multi disciplinary Expert Appraisal Committee constituted for the purpose.

"Violation of the EIA Notification, 2006 would attract action under the relevant provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 in accordance with the procedure prescribed thereunder."

It is clear from this answer of the Ministry that if Karnataka government wants to go ahead with the project, it has to start afresh and go through the time-consuming process of environmental clearance.

Citizen's Charter for MUDA

A M Subba Rao, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

When N.Jayaram and Pankaj Kumar Pandey were Commissioners of MUDA, time limits had been prescribed to complete the processing of various types of applications filed by the public. This worked reasonably well and by and large the public got their work done without much hassle.

Such a system needs to be reintroduced at MUDA now since the public is finding it very difficult to get title deeds and changes of Khatha at MUDA. MUDA must have a citizen's charter which spells out exactly how much the public have to pay for each service and how much time MUDA needs to render them that service. Right now, the public do not know the time frame. They have to pursue their applications from table to table; this procedure seems tailor-made for corruption and delay. If the service requested is the issuing of a document (such as ledger extract), MUDA can also charge them the cost of mailing by registered post. Then, the public need not even come to collect the document. It will be delivered to them within the time limit fixed by the citizen's charter.

If the prescribed fee, the supporting documents which need to be produced to avail of a particular MUDA service and the time limit within which the service has to be provided are spelt out clearly, then the public need not come inside MUDA and interact with the clerks at all. They can hand in the fee and the supporting documents at the outside counter (which should also have an information counter) and walk away secure in the knowledge that they will get the document they requested for at their doorstep within a week or two. Preventing the interaction of the public with the MUDA staff will not only reduce corruption but also increase the efficiency of the MUDA staff who at present are being seriously distracted and hampered by the public. The only public who should be allowed inside should be those who have an appointment with an official and a pass system and strict security installed to make sure that they visit only the concerned official.

The Terrible Condition of Mysore Roads

There are less than two weeks for the Dasara. Lakhs of tourists will be flooding our city. But is our city ready? Most of the city's roads are in a deplorable state. The photos in Attachments provide some evidence. No explanation is necessary and so we just give the locations.

Intersection of Kuvempunagar Double Road and Kamakshi Hospital Road

Intersection of Temple Road and Kalidasa Road in V.V. Mohalla

Intersection of Bogadi Road and Ring Road

Intersection of Chaduranga Road and Bogadi Road near AIISH

JSS Law College corner on Kantahraj Urs Road

Intersection of Chavadi Street and Ramanuja Road

Road to Lalit Mahal next to Karanji Tank

MCC Does A Poor Job Of Testing Drinking Water

Prof. A. Ramalingam and D.V. Dayanand Sagar, Members, MGP write

In June of this year MGP issued a press statement "Mysore's Drinking Water Quality Hits A New Low" in which results of tests conducted on water samples collected all over Mysore were presented. In these tests, thirteen out of the eighteen tap water samples (72%) were found bacterially contaminated (out of which 11% were extremely contaminated, 56% highly contaminated and 5% moderately contaminated). Tests were also conducted on municipal borewell water samples and it was found that total dissolved solids (TDS) content varied from 600 milligrams per liter to 1,500 milligrams per liter in the eighteen samples tested. According to drinking water specifications (IS 10500:1991) of the Bureau of Indian Standards, 500 milligrams per litre is the desirable level for TDS. Therefore, TDS of all the borewells tested exceeded this level. Excessive TDS is known to cause cancer and other diseases.

These results showed that by any standards, the quality of drinking water supplied to the public of Mysore is atrocious.

Mysore City Corporation which supplies water to Mysore was prompt in its rejoinder to this press release. In the rejoinder issued to the press, the Commissioner of MCC said that MGP and Dr. Ajay Memorial Drinking Water Foundations which carried out the tests were just recycling some old test results. He also accused these organizations of scaremongering. The rejoinder said that MCC conducts 13 different tests on water samples and only water which passes all these 13 tests is supplied to the public.

MGP and DAMDWF conducted their tests on 15-5-08 and 16-5-08 and a detailed report of the tests were submitted to the MCC Commissioner on 30-5-08. So the Commissioner knew that the results were not recycled old results.

To find out how MCC collects and tests water samples, MGP applied, under the Right to Information Act, for the results of all the water tests conducted by MCC in the month of May and received the requested document recently. The document shows that MCC actually conducts only 5 tests (residual chlorine, conductivity, pH, turbidity and MPN test for bacterial contamination) while MCC Commissioner's rejoinder claims that 13 tests are conducted!

A careful study of this document proves that sampling methods used by MCC are extremely unscientific, required tests are not being conducted, test results are highly dubious and there is no effort at all to use the test results to improve the water quality.

UNSCIENTIFIC SAMPLING

According to the document, MCC collected and tested 404 samples in 27 working days of May (13 samples a day on the average). Of these, 77 samples were from the water reservoirs. Vijayanagar,Yadavagiri and Vidyanagar reservoirs were tested very frequently, but Devanur reservoir was tested only three times.

Of the 327 tap samples tested, 89 samples (more than 25%) were from a small area around Metagalli (Karakushalanagara, Ambedkar Jnanaloka and BMShreenagar). Many large areas of Mysore such as Krishnamurthypuram, Jayalakshmipuram, Chamarajapuram, T.K.Layout, Lakshmipuram, Chamundipuram, etc had no samples tested. This seems an extremely skewed and unscientific way of taking samples.

According to the document, MCC tested a borewell in Kudure Mala and found it contaminated with bacteria. Then it tested three taps nearby supplied by the borewell and found those samples also contaminated. Common sense should have indicated that when the source itself is contaminated, there was no need to test the taps. This also highlights the unscientific nature of the sampling technique.

ESSENTIAL TESTS ARE NOT BEING CONDUCTED

Determination of total dissolved solids (TDS) is an essential part of drinking water tests, because excessive TDS causes cancer and other diseases. The drinking water specifications (IS 10500:1991) of the Bureau of Indian Standards sets 500 milligrams per litre is the desirable level for TDS. But MCC does not measure TDS in drinking water even though it is a very simple procedure which can be done even by high school students. Instead, it measures conductivity which is not included in the BIS specifications for drinking water.

DUBIOUS TEST RESULTS

According to the document, 14 borewells were tested and only 2 were found contaminated (14%). This number flies in the face of MCC's earlier data. A survey conducted by MCCn in 1999 had showed that 47% of the borewells were bacterially contaminated. As time goes by more and more borewells get contaminated and it is estimated that this percentage has now gone up to more than 70%. So MCC's latest results are highly suspect.

According to the document, two tests were conducted on 2-5-08 at the same address, No. 361 Ambedkar Jananlokanagara, Metagalli. One test found bacteria in the water and the other did not!. This is strange indeed.

The turbidity of all the 404 samples was much below the limit of 5 NTU set by BIS. The average turbidity measured by MCC is around 1 NTU. When people from all areas of Mysore were complaining about muddiness in tap water, these results are nothing short of astonishing..

According to the document, MCC found bacteria in only 9 samples out of 327 tap water samples (3%). This seems a gross underestimation.

TEST RESULTS ARE NOT IMPROVING WATER QUALITY

MCC seems to be making no effort to use these test results to improve the quality of water supplied. For example, there are 15 test results which show residual chlorine at 0.1 mg/l. According to BIS standards, residual chlorine should be at least 0.2 mg/l. Therefore, these 15 houses are getting underchlorinated water and face the danger of bacterial contamination. What MCC should have done is to increase the chlorine dose at the reservoir and again test these taps to see if residual chlorine is above 0.2 mg/l. But MCC has not done so.

CONCLUSION

Ill-qualified persons seem to be running the water supply department. Test results on drinking water are being skewed to present a rosy picture of water quality. This does not augur well for the public health in Mysore.

MGP Meeting

D.V. Dayanand Sagar, Member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat writes

Mysore Grahakara Parishat monthly meeting will be held on Sunday, September 14, at 4.00 PM at its office at 6/1, Vivekananda Road, Yadavagiri. Two important subjects will be discussed.

The District Administration has appointed MGP to the District Level PDS Vigilance Committee. Besides dealing with the problem of securing LPG, this committee will help streamline the availability of ration items like rice, kerosene, and sugar. It will also monitor PDS shops. How the committee can best help the public will be discussed.

During Dasara, thousands of outsiders will be visiting Mysore. An action plan to help make their stay pleasant and free of irritation will be discussed.

The public is invited to participate in the meeting. For more information, call 2515150.