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A previous meeting of the EAC in May, too, had asked the GSPC to “defer” construction commercial facilities until certain conditions were fulfilled. It refused to give blanket CRZ clearance for laying down underground gas pipeline, optical fibre cable (OFC), an effluent disposal pipeline, and process-cum-living quarter platform and captive power plant – all of which would require CRZ clearance, as these facilities are to be part of the Yanam-Puducherry coastal region. The GSPC wanted all these to be cleared together but the EAC ruled against it, asking the GSPC to make separate applications.
The EAC note, which refused the CRZ clearance, regretted in May how, without necessary clearances, the GSPC began "physical construction work for field development." It wanted the GSPC to submit: (1) details of the critical environmental issues identified during laying of pipeline, (2) environment clearance for enhancement of captive power plant, under consideration of environmental appraisal committee (EAC) of the thermal committee, which has also sought examining the requirement of wildlife clearance in view of Coringa Sanctuary located in 2.5 km distance, and (3) the plan of the pipeline to pass through the mangroves. Based on these observations, it recommended to defer the proposal. "The proposal shall be reconsidered after the above observations are addressed and submitted”, the note said.
The EAC decision to ask the GSPC to defer its Rs 2,030 crore worth of facilities comes after the Andhra Pradesh government took strong objection to the GSPC for failing to take necessary forest and wildlife clearances for its proposed facilities and kickstarting construction work. It asked GSPC executives to “stop work” of laying down a crucial submarine pipeline to take gas from KG Basin to its onshore gas terminal via an area which is inside 10 km of the Corianga sanctuary without necessary clearances. It wanted to know “why action shouldn’t be taken” for violating forest and wildlife laws.
Insiders said, GSPC executives goofed up as they demanded environmental clearance and thought that was “enough.” After nearly two years, its top bosses found that environmental clearance was not enough, and that forest and wildlife clearance, as also CRZ clearance, under their respective Central laws, would also need to be taken, without which KG Basin gas cannot reach onshore gas terminal. “Hectic preparations began to prepare papers”, a senior official said, adding, “The delay in failing to take necessary clearances will mean commercial production of KG Basin gas will have to be postponed by at least two years. ” The notice to “stop work” was delivered after GSPC failed to respond to two earlier warnings.
The work for the Rs 2,030 crore onshore gas terminal was under progress at Mallavaram, and nearly 30 per cent of it had been complete. Under instructions of chief minister Narendra Modi, the terminal, it is said, was put on fast track, with the expectation that ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, GSPC would go into full-scale commercial operation. This would help neutralize some of the criticism being leveled against GSPC for creating hype around the KG operations by prematurely announcing 20 tcf of gas having been found. Nobody knows how of much of the 2 tcf is actually recoverable. Meanwhile, GSPC is search of a foreign partner who can help make maximum utilization of the KG gas.
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