Even municipal councillors of Visakhapatnam city, the second largest city in Andhra Pradesh, have found it difficult to withstand the power of the Chief Minister over access to vital local resources. The issue is over water, a very sensitive topic since the city is growing rapidly with frequently occurring water scarcity. The JSW refinery located about 60 km from Visakhapatnam city needs as much as 30 million litres of water per day and is located just next to an important water reservoir. The Tatipudi reservoir used for local agriculture in Vizianagaram District (though not at the refinery site since the irrigation canals bypass the area) and as a source of drinking water for Visakhapatnam city is only 2-3 km from the proposed refinery site and was therefore immediately suspected to become its main source of water. The EIA report remained vague over the water source however stating that:
Water requirement will be met from Raivada reservoir [another dam in the area] or from such other sources or from any existing water reservoir with approval of Govt of Andhra Pradesh which have no impact on local environment. The water will be taken from the source to the plant site through pipeline. The water requirement for the proposed plant and it's associated facilities will be about 33,600 m3/day (Vimta Labs 2007, C2-3).
Just ahead of the public hearing as sentiments were running high over the water issue (among other things), JSW issued a press release declaring water would come from Visakhapatnam city via the municipal Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation through a dedicated pipeline instead of from the Raivada reservoir indicated in the EIA. The approval to draw water from the city was secured 1 week ahead of the public hearing on 28 May 2007 ”in view of apprehensions expressed by some sections of people in the media” (JSW Aluminium 2007). Meeting minutes from the Chief Minister’s office reveal that as late as in early May 2007 the plan was still to follow
the EIA report and get water from the Raivada reservoir but this changed by the middle of the month when the JSW chairman made a visit at another high-level meeting (Government of Andhra Pradesh, Industries and Commerce Department 2007a; Government of Andhra Pradesh, Industries and Commerce Department 2007b).
Granting water to industry, and that too industry outside of the city limits, for water-short and quickly growing Visakhapatnam city was not going to be popular among Visakhapatnam city residents however. Several issues were at play with the proposed water supply. Firstly, the ability to supply water depends on Godavari river water arriving from the Polavaram mega dam to Visakhapatnam city in order to re-route this water to the refinery. But the dam has been locked up in litigation for a number of years making it certain there will not be any water in several years, if at all. Secondly, water from Godavari/Polavaram when/if it arrives has already been promised to the farmers who had to let go of part of their share from the Raivada reservoir when its water was diverted to Visakhapatnam city in 1997 (Government of Andhra Pradesh, Irrigation and CAD Department 2007). Thirdly, water is already insufficient for the needs of Visakhapatnam city with requirements projected to grow dramatically from 304 million litres per day at present to 614 in 2021. Industrial needs are expected to reach 1151 million litres per day in 2021. Compared to these demands the current supply is only 54 million litres per day due to recent drought conditions. The water from Godavari would add another 810 million litres per day which is still quite far from satisfying even the projected water requirements of the city, let alone all other demands for water (Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority 2007). The conclusion is that the uncertain supply of water from Godavari would have to contend both with strong farmer lobbies and Visakhapatnam city residents before any supplies are made to industries like JSW.
The contract to supply water was made via VIWSCO (Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Corporation), a company owned by the city of Visakhapatnam via its municipal corporation GVMC together with central government entity Vizag steel and private company Larsen &
Toubro. With a 51% majority controlled by the city it would have seemed within its right to cancel any contract (these contractual matters were not analysed as much in the news as political statements and counter-statements hiding the ‘facts’). In the month following the public hearing, debates in the Visakhapatnam city council were intense over the water supply issue. At first the supply agreement, which had been a technical one made by an engineer, was cancelled (The Hindu Business Line 2007b). Newspaper articles over the following weeks indicated that pressure was being put on the city councillors to approve the supply of water without really indicating the
nature of pressure or who was exerting it (The Hindu 2007a; Patnaik 2007; The Hindu Business Line 2007a). A few weeks later the mayor declared that the agreement was approved again and the refinery would be allowed to use Godavari water (The Hindu Business Line 2007c). Again, there was no explanation provided on how the water supply company would be able to mange serving its different customers. One commentator stated that the “city council are just following what the CM wants whether there is enough water or not” (Interview activist Visakhapatnam 29/3 2008).
But when the environmental approval letter for JSW’s refinery was made public the discussion returned to where it had begun since according to the MoEF letter the “[t]otal water requirement from Canal/Tatipudi reservoir will be 8 MGD (1,400 m3/h) and permission is accorded by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) [via] letter dated 28th May, 2007 (Ministry of Environment and Forests 2007e).” When the 28 May letter referred to in JSW’s press release was supposed to open up for the use of Godavari water via VIWSCO, the MoEF approval letter indicated the Tatipudi reservoir as the source. A new round of media discussions followed with the company denying it will take local water but evidence indicating the opposite.
Importantly for the project was that land acquisition could move ahead as the environmental approval had been received.
The contract to supply Godavari water to JSW Aluminium remained despite the protests and the seeming impossibility of meeting all water needs. And in addition to JSW, 38 million litres per day was allocated to the ANRAK refinery from VIWSCO further deepening the water supply conundrum (GVMC 2008). Squeezed between several strong interest groups; farmers demanding water for agriculture based on earlier promises made by the State government, residents of Visakhapatnam city in need of drinking water, and the State government’s promise to supply water to the refinery, the contract to provide water for JSW Aluminium from the Godavari stood. In 2008 the TDP organised a ‘mahadharna’ (mega strike) on the issue while activists continued to ask questions in 2009, and resorted to court litigation to resolve where water would actually come from (The Hindu 2008b; The Hindu 2009d).
But the State government continued to do nothing (at least publicly) to solve the issue. The answer to whether water will be provided to Visakhapatnam city, to local farmers or to the JSW refinery will seemingly depend on the balance of power between different users at some point in the not so distant future. If the recent past is a good indication it will be the farmers who lose out
while the elected politicians find somebody else to blame for their decision (or lack of decision) to allocate water despite the apparent scarcity.102