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The proposed petroleum, chemicals, petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada will result in an acute water crisis in the city in five to six years, besides causing many other undesirable consequences such as pollution and therefore the Government should give it up, activists pleaded here on Sunday.
At a press meet here, they said the Government had not made sufficient water allocation for the project and even if the mega Polavaram irrigation project on the Godavari was completed there would still be a huge water deficit.
E.A.S Sarma, former Union Enegy Secretary, said by 2020 it was estimated that 254 MGD (million gallons a day) of water would be needed to meet the drinking water requirements of Visakhapatnam city and that of the PCPIR, but only 219 MGD of water would be available, even assuming the Polavaram project is completed by then.
He said the Polavaram irrigation project was bedevilled by all sorts of problems and it was not certain when or whether it would ever be completed. Therefore, there would certainly be a huge water deficit of 50 MGD or so, he said. Besides, 97 coastal villages between the two port towns would be affected by pollution and marine resources would be damaged.
Therefore, he said, the Government should give up the idea and instead set up an investment region for agro industries and fish processing units in the fragile coastal zone.
J.V. Ratnam, journalist and environmental activist, said the draft master plan for the PCPIR had already been prepared and the Government had set December 5 as the last date for filing objections. He said of the 97 villages to be affected by the PCPIR, 55 were fishermen’s villages. Fishermen would be badly affected and the so-called rehabilitation measures taken by the Government would hardly be adequate. “They are the most vulnerable section of the society with hardly any other skills and their livelihood would be imperilled,” he said.
Many other speakers spoke along the same lines and wanted the Government to shelve the project.
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