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Sponge Iron Industries in India - Destroying Environment to make Money!!!
"Since the year 2000, spontaneous as well as organized movements have come up in the aforesaid regions against these Sponge Iron plants. These are areas which, apart from being mineral rich, are also forest rich habited by mainly tribal and forest dwelling communities dependent on the forest and agriculture for their survival. To their agony, the sponge iron industries in forest vicinities have become threats to their life by polluting the atmosphere and putting the livelihood sources at stake."
Bighneswar Sahu : August 29, 2008
India has been one of the hot spots for iron ore extraction and for the past three years has been the largest producer of Sponge Iron (SI) in the world - producing almost 12 MTPA in 2005 - 06. Sponge iron, also known as direct reduced iron, is extracted from iron ore and is used in the making of steel. With the rising global demand for steel there has been unprecedented growth of the sponge iron industry in India.
On one hand, steel majors like POSCO, Mittal and domestic dominants like Tata, Jindal have already routed huge investments in sponge iron and steel industry. On the other hand, sponge iron units have emerged as small- scale industries requiring least investment. Thus many illegal and unmonitored units have come up across the country.
The Central Eastern belt of the country endowed with rich-mineral resources, including the states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, are the key regions for the growth of this industry. The other states that are leading in production of sponge iron are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa Gujarat and Maharashtra. In fact, Gujarat has emerged as the largest producer of Sponge Iron this year.
Since the year 2000, spontaneous as well as organized movements have come up in the aforesaid regions against these Sponge Iron plants. These are areas which, apart from being mineral rich, are also forest rich habited by mainly tribal and forest dwelling communities dependent on the forest and agriculture for their survival. To their agony, the sponge iron industries in forest vicinities have become threats to their life by polluting the atmosphere and putting the livelihood sources at stake.
Air Pollution has been one of the most critical impacts of this industry, affecting health of the local population part from agricultural production and livestock, and wild as well as domestic biodiversity. The problem has worsened because these plants are medium and small-scale units and don't have any technical system to minimize carbon dioxide and other green house gas emission. Forget about installing pollution control devices, sponge iron industries of India do not go by the standardized specifications meant for controlling environmental pollution. These industries always show the card of cost escalation whenever they are asked to go by standard specifications. Instances of failure of the Pollution control boards to take up the issue have also risen consistently.
This issue has been taken up at different levels starting from grass root level communities to the policy making level through protests, rallies, advocacy meets, public interest writs etc. But, unfortunately, the result has not been satisfactory so far. Pollution control board at the state and centre must be strict and strong enough to see proper execution of the norms and policies made to minimize pollution. Other than the government agencies, Industrialists must act more responsibly to protect the environment instead of simply looking for profit.