Former Indian environment minister says Adani's track record 'leaves a lot to be desired'
Tracey Ferrier
India's former environment minister says he's appalled by Australia's decision to approve Adani's massive new coal mine in Queensland, and the company's record in environmental management in India "leaves a lot to be desired".
Jairam Ramesh has told the ABC the mine will threaten the survival of the Great Barrier Reef.
"And if it leaves a lot to be desired domestically, there's no reason for me to believe that Adani would be a responsible environmental player globally," he told the broadcaster's Four Corners program.
Mr Ramesh said the federal and Queensland governments had not properly examined Adani Group's environmental and financial conduct in India before approving the mine in the Galilee Basin.
"I'm very, very surprised that the Australian government, for whatever reason, has seen it fit to all along hand-hold Mr Adani; he is not one of the shining stars of environmental stewardship," he said.
That Australia would consider giving concessional loans and other financial breaks to Adani was almost beyond belief given the consequences for climate change, he said.
"You're giving a tax break to a project that is actually going to have adverse environmental consequences, which will have multiplying effects on weather patterns in the region, across the world. I find it bizarre," he said.
"The Great Barrier Reef happens to be in Australia, but it's a common heritage of mankind, it belongs to the world."
A spokesman for federal Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said Adani's new mine would create thousands of jobs.
"State and federal governments have put in place more than 300 strict conditions on the Adani mine," he said.
"The consideration of Adani's environmental history was the most comprehensive ever undertaken under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999."
Adani said it operated within the law and defended its environmental record, citing cases before India's Supreme Court.
"Adani Group adhere to the laws of the land in which we operate, be it India or any other of the 50 geographies we work in," the company said in a statement.
"We cannot be held to either ransom or blackmail by media organisations that indulge into sensationalism without any basis and contrary to facts."
AAP has sought comment from the Queensland government.
Four Corners reporter Stephen Long spoke to Sandra Correia, a mother who says her children are suffering ill-health from the Vasco da Gama port in the state of Goa, where Adani has a large coal berth.
Ms Correia said her youngest son Stanislaus, 6, "gets up in the morning and vomits all coal out".
"The minute we went out of town like to Kerala or Delhi [the children] were perfectly normal within two days. On our return back within two days it would start again," she said.
The program cited a report by the anti-corruption ombudsman of the southern state of Karnataka, which alleged Adani systematically bribed a host of regulators, public officials and politicians.
Journalist and author Josy Joseph described the report as "the finest documentation of corruption in this country that independent India has ever seen".
"There are pages after pages of documentation of how Adani Enterprises was involved in letting miners illegally export thousands and thousands of tonnes of iron ore from India abroad and there are detailed documentation and tabulation of bribes paid at various levels and how it was all manipulated," Mr Joseph said.
No charges were laid against Adani Enterprises, however, after a subsequent criminal investigation and Adani denies any wrongdoing, the program said.
Adani's environmental record was also called into question. The program aired allegations that its showcase Mundra port in the state of Gujarat had caused salinity in nearby farm water supplies and a drop in the local fishing catch.
Kanchi Kohli, of New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, claimed Adani also breached its environmental approvals by destroying mangroves and sand dunes, blocking and filling creeks and preventing access to the sea for fishing vessels .
Adani denies the allegations, which were also covered by an independent expert report commissioned by then-Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
with Nicole Hasham
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/former-indian-environment-minister-says-adanis-track-record-leaves-a-lot-to-be-desired-20171002-gysky0.html
posted by Satish Sharma at
07:47
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