Fwd: Public Hearing on Waste project in Hyderabad
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chaitanya kumar
Apr 2, 2012, 5:05:22 AM4/2/12
to iycn_hyd
Read this and let me know if you will be able to help Anant go through his pile of text and audio recordings from the public hearing. This is quite important and pertains to all citizens of Hyd. The waste we generate is putting the lives of thousands at risk. Read more below.
Let me know if some one wants to chip in and help. Ill connect Anant to him.
Cheers
--
K. Chaitanya Kumar
Indian Youth Climate Network
Hyderabad
+91-9849016371
www.iycn.in
www.whatswiththeclimate.org
peace!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anant Maringanti <anan...@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Subject: Public Hearing on Waste project in Hyderabad
To: soulhy...@googlegroups.com
Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL)
Email : soul.hy...@gmail.com
Google Groups : soulhy...@googlegroups.com
From: Anant Maringanti <anan...@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Subject: Public Hearing on Waste project in Hyderabad
To: soulhy...@googlegroups.com
Dear all
Some of you may be curious to know what happened at the Jawaharnagar public hearing today. So the following is a quick update. If any of you was also there, please fill in if I missed anything important.
We were not able to get a hold of the EIA. (I guess if we really set ourselves to it, we could have got a copy of it from some source. But then it seemed ridiculous to put in somuch effort into accessing something that should have been made easily available to everyone. Now that the immediate pressure is off our backs, we can try and get a hold of some of the key documents - EIA, DPR, draft special masterplan and concessionaire agreement. )
So instead, one of the local groups Environmental Protection Society wrote a simple representation to the AP Pollution Control Board urging that the Public Hearing be declared infructuous as the administration failed to make the relevant documents easily accessible to the public. And threaten to start a litigation if the APPCB went ahead with taking the public hearing as completed.
The group also prepared banners and distributed pamphlets to the same effect.
Since last evening there were rumors that the police were going to arrest some of the local organizers. And this morning there were some 20 policemen with guns, tear gas shells and rubber bullets and I spotted some real bullets as well at the entrance to the public hearing. Some 40 uniformed men were strategically deployed in the venue behind the podium, on the left, right, front and back. They came in with a map of the venue and positioned themselves. And another 20 with canes were spread around on the sides of the entrance.
The group decided in the morning that they will stick to that simple stand: that the whole process is fraudulent and they will explain the same to the joint collector under whose chairmanship this was happening. And they will actively discourage any sloganeering or disruptive activities.
The GHMC and the Ramky officials were somehow not prepared for any of this. So, they were a little surprised. They had brought in some 300 women from different localities an hour and half before the appointed time and occupied all the front rows.
The turning point came right in the beginning when the mike was to be passed around. At first they said they will allow the 'public' the most important participant to speak and only then give a chance to NGOs and other organizations. But then somehow, they relented and gave the mike to Ravinder, one of the local organizers. He made his rehearsed speech: this entire process is infructuous as we have not been given the necessary documents etc.. After that Ramky and GHMC completely lost control over the mike. It kept circulating among people who made some very powerful speeches. And anytime people clapped or shouted slogans, they stopped and discouraged it.
At the end of it, there were less than half a dozen women who said the project was good for them. Their reason being that Ramky gave them water and sewing machines. The rest of them apparently will give written submissions to the same effect.
There were some very interesting soundbytes: for example, the GHMC official who made a brief presentation of the project said that they had been working very hard for the last six months and that within a few years, the landfill will be so good that they golf courses and horse riding clubs can be established on top. (For some reason, from the moment I heard about this project, I have been seeing this image in my mind: Jawaharnagar as a real estate hotspot - with golf courses etc.. in some 30 years from now. It will also have a very good view because of the elevation. )
So, the official said, just be patient. You will reap the benefits: the land prices here will soar and you will make a lot of money.
And responding to the official, one of the local organizers an autorickshaw drivers union leader said: sir, right now, if we defecate and wash our bottoms with water from this area, we are getting bad sores. Thank you for the golf course. We just want to keep our bottoms clean and safe.
Then, there was a panchayati vice sarpanch - who said, sir, we have just heard that Jawaharnagar is getting water from Manjira river because of the PPP between GHMC and Ramky. The truth is that the money came from MPLADS. And not from either GHMC or from Ramky and the supply is very small. They say that they have been supplying water with tankers to the panchayati even though it is not part of the GHMC area. We see some two or three tankers here occasionally. And we have a stable population of over one lakh. Three years ago, one of the local irrigation tank got filled and the water was so putrid that we had to breach the tank and drain out all the water.
So, please let us get real.
Then there were several remarks about the relationship between the city and the rural. About the injustice of jawaharnagar having to bear the brunt of the entire city's ineptitude in managing its shit.
One woman who lives in one of the rajiv gruhakalpa housing first broke down when she had to describe how she has to go begging from house to house for half a pitcher of clean water. Then another woman talked about the indignities she and her family is having to suffer because of the location of her house. It was quite a remarkable speech. She said, I do not want them to give me relief. I want to be able to live with dignity. My husband says that Ramky will give us money. But I dont want it. I want to work and earn and feed my children and bring them up and pay my house mortgage instalments myself. And we will be able to do it if you stop dumping stuff here.
Then there were some older settlers in the area - exservicemen who own farming land one of whom made a powerful representation.
There was no mention anywhere of the workers. It will take a lot of serious organizing and research to make some room in all this for the workers point of view to be heard.
I took copious notes and audio recorded parts of it and took some interesting pictures. And left about half way through it. I have no idea when i will be able to process it all !
But as public hearings go, I thought this was a successful one from the public's perspective - the local organizers managed to shift the center of gravity at least for a few hours.
warmly
anant
-- Some of you may be curious to know what happened at the Jawaharnagar public hearing today. So the following is a quick update. If any of you was also there, please fill in if I missed anything important.
We were not able to get a hold of the EIA. (I guess if we really set ourselves to it, we could have got a copy of it from some source. But then it seemed ridiculous to put in somuch effort into accessing something that should have been made easily available to everyone. Now that the immediate pressure is off our backs, we can try and get a hold of some of the key documents - EIA, DPR, draft special masterplan and concessionaire agreement. )
So instead, one of the local groups Environmental Protection Society wrote a simple representation to the AP Pollution Control Board urging that the Public Hearing be declared infructuous as the administration failed to make the relevant documents easily accessible to the public. And threaten to start a litigation if the APPCB went ahead with taking the public hearing as completed.
The group also prepared banners and distributed pamphlets to the same effect.
Since last evening there were rumors that the police were going to arrest some of the local organizers. And this morning there were some 20 policemen with guns, tear gas shells and rubber bullets and I spotted some real bullets as well at the entrance to the public hearing. Some 40 uniformed men were strategically deployed in the venue behind the podium, on the left, right, front and back. They came in with a map of the venue and positioned themselves. And another 20 with canes were spread around on the sides of the entrance.
The group decided in the morning that they will stick to that simple stand: that the whole process is fraudulent and they will explain the same to the joint collector under whose chairmanship this was happening. And they will actively discourage any sloganeering or disruptive activities.
The GHMC and the Ramky officials were somehow not prepared for any of this. So, they were a little surprised. They had brought in some 300 women from different localities an hour and half before the appointed time and occupied all the front rows.
The turning point came right in the beginning when the mike was to be passed around. At first they said they will allow the 'public' the most important participant to speak and only then give a chance to NGOs and other organizations. But then somehow, they relented and gave the mike to Ravinder, one of the local organizers. He made his rehearsed speech: this entire process is infructuous as we have not been given the necessary documents etc.. After that Ramky and GHMC completely lost control over the mike. It kept circulating among people who made some very powerful speeches. And anytime people clapped or shouted slogans, they stopped and discouraged it.
At the end of it, there were less than half a dozen women who said the project was good for them. Their reason being that Ramky gave them water and sewing machines. The rest of them apparently will give written submissions to the same effect.
There were some very interesting soundbytes: for example, the GHMC official who made a brief presentation of the project said that they had been working very hard for the last six months and that within a few years, the landfill will be so good that they golf courses and horse riding clubs can be established on top. (For some reason, from the moment I heard about this project, I have been seeing this image in my mind: Jawaharnagar as a real estate hotspot - with golf courses etc.. in some 30 years from now. It will also have a very good view because of the elevation. )
So, the official said, just be patient. You will reap the benefits: the land prices here will soar and you will make a lot of money.
And responding to the official, one of the local organizers an autorickshaw drivers union leader said: sir, right now, if we defecate and wash our bottoms with water from this area, we are getting bad sores. Thank you for the golf course. We just want to keep our bottoms clean and safe.
Then, there was a panchayati vice sarpanch - who said, sir, we have just heard that Jawaharnagar is getting water from Manjira river because of the PPP between GHMC and Ramky. The truth is that the money came from MPLADS. And not from either GHMC or from Ramky and the supply is very small. They say that they have been supplying water with tankers to the panchayati even though it is not part of the GHMC area. We see some two or three tankers here occasionally. And we have a stable population of over one lakh. Three years ago, one of the local irrigation tank got filled and the water was so putrid that we had to breach the tank and drain out all the water.
So, please let us get real.
Then there were several remarks about the relationship between the city and the rural. About the injustice of jawaharnagar having to bear the brunt of the entire city's ineptitude in managing its shit.
One woman who lives in one of the rajiv gruhakalpa housing first broke down when she had to describe how she has to go begging from house to house for half a pitcher of clean water. Then another woman talked about the indignities she and her family is having to suffer because of the location of her house. It was quite a remarkable speech. She said, I do not want them to give me relief. I want to be able to live with dignity. My husband says that Ramky will give us money. But I dont want it. I want to work and earn and feed my children and bring them up and pay my house mortgage instalments myself. And we will be able to do it if you stop dumping stuff here.
Then there were some older settlers in the area - exservicemen who own farming land one of whom made a powerful representation.
There was no mention anywhere of the workers. It will take a lot of serious organizing and research to make some room in all this for the workers point of view to be heard.
I took copious notes and audio recorded parts of it and took some interesting pictures. And left about half way through it. I have no idea when i will be able to process it all !
But as public hearings go, I thought this was a successful one from the public's perspective - the local organizers managed to shift the center of gravity at least for a few hours.
warmly
anant
Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL)
Email : soul.hy...@gmail.com
Google Groups : soulhy...@googlegroups.com
K. Chaitanya Kumar
Indian Youth Climate Network
Hyderabad
+91-9849016371
www.iycn.in
www.whatswiththeclimate.org
peace!
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