HC warns RIL about environmental damage in gas project

The Madras high court on Tuesday turned down a petition to restrain corporate behemoth Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) from putting up a block valve station and pipeline in the Godavari river bed area in Yanam, which is part of the Union Territory of Puducherry.

However, firmly reminding RIL of the importance of social responsibility and environmental concern, a division bench of the high court asked the company to first assess the impact of its natural gas project on the local population and environment.

The division bench comprising justices Prabha Sridevan and G M Akbar Ali laid down that the company must to ensure that there is minimal environmental impact due to the project. "After all, when environmental disaster strikes, it would strike the mighty and the weak alike," it observed.

The bench was passing orders on a public interest writ petition filed by a company, MS Sai Kumar of Yanam, which said that the territorial administration had allowed RIL to proceed with the project without mandatory clearance as provided in the Madras River Conservancy Act 1884.

The project envisaged drawing of gas from the Bay of Bengal, a pipeline of 250 km and construction of a jetty, substation, block valve station, control cabin building, etc.

The petition said 25 per cent of the residents of Yanam were fishermen who depended on the river Godavari for their livelihood and the project would destroy coconut plantation and mangrove forests in the region, exposing the region to flooding.