Our poisoned future

The horrendous levels of pollution in Mumbai are directly related to its intense and rapid industrialisation. In an earlier column, I asked whether Mumbai was an appropriate or welcoming location for the WSF. While the city may not be a good showcase for alternate models of development and trade, it is certainly a good place to highlight some of the side-effects of unregulated, excessively rapid industrialisation. One such case is that of Coca-Cola's depletion of natural ground water. But Coca-Cola is only one such case, and truthfully, has received more attention because it is an American corporation. While the "Campaign To Hold Coke Accountable" is focused on environmental destruction, many campaigners are also using it to play out larger debates over US business power and TNCs' rapid expansion into the developing world. But anyone who has studied the issues in depth knows that local Indian companies can be just as big environmental offenders.

One such local disaster involves Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), which is located next to Gavanpada village in Chembur. In fact, like many remote villages in India, Gavanpada has been "blessed" with the nearby presence of four factories: HPCL, BPCL, IOCL and Tata Power. Smoke and gasoline fumes have permanently poisoned the air. On a recent night, a cricket game was suddenly interrupted by mysterious white powder showering down from the sky. The game was quickly abandoned and villagers fled to the safety of their house, but it was already too late. The next morning, the village was coated with a white dust, which was revealed to be silica dust accidentally discharged from the HPCL factory. Within 24 hours, residents were experiencing intense burning sensations in their eyes, scarring on their faces and respiratory problems. As with laboratory animals, the village's cats and dogs were early victims. Within the week, eight dogs and several cats had died and one pregnant dog miscarried her litter. Children were also brought in with intense respiratory problems.

Investigations revealed that the silica dust was used by HPCL to break down hydrocarbons. It is not soluble in water, so even rain cannot easily wash it away. There was an instrument malfunction during daily start-up and a huge amount of silica, or "catalyst powder," spewed into the open air. According to residents, this was the fourth time it had happened in one month. Angry villagers staged a 1,000 strong march to the refinery gates recently, but no representative came out to meet them. HPCL is a government-run enterprise, and one of the nation's largest corporations. In 2003, it earned Rs 1,537 crore in profit. But so far, they have shown little interest in financially compensating the affected villagers. Speaking to Newsline, HPCL's chairman Mahesh Lal said, "I don't think it (the white powder) is harmful at all." This optimistic, non-scientific interpretation was contradicted by Gavanpada local leader Vinayak Mahatre: "Someday, we will all die."

HPCL is similar to other industrial giants, government-owned and private, that are carrying out environmentally destructive policies without any checks and balances. In fact, government-owned companies are sometimes even less accountable than private firms. This brings up a dilemma for environmental activists. There is a lot of attention being paid, quite naturally, to the actions of Transnational Companies (TNCs). This attention is justified and hopefully the campaigns will bring positive reforms of the TNC business practices. Paradoxically, TNCs are sometimes more vulnerable to pressures from environmental activists -- because their headquarters are in America or Europe and negative media attention from far-away India could wreak havoc on the company's stock prices.

This brings up an interesting question for globalisation activists (I have deliberately avoided the misleading "anti" descriptor). If we care about businesses being run on humane, people-centric, and environmentally sound principles -- we may sometimes find a foreign TNC to be more responsive to environmental complaints. Therefore, should we welcome foreign TNCs to South Asia in the hope that it will raise national environmental standards? This argument is anathema to those who are pushing for local control over all industries. Then again, there are cases like Union Carbide's Bhopal disaster which contradicts this argument.

A thorny dilemma with no clear answer in sight -- but one which the WSF will have to grapple with if they want nuanced solutions that fit a complex real world.

Naeem Mohaiemen is New York Correspondent of The Daily Star.