Deonar plant: Firm checking green impact not accredited

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has outsourced the environment impact assessment (EIA) for a proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at the Deonar dumping site to an unaccredited consultant organisation (CO), in variance of the directions of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has outsourced the environment impact assessment (EIA) for a proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at the Deonar dumping site to an unaccredited consultant organisation (CO), in variance of the directions of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

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Fine Envirotech Engineers (FEE), a Mahim-based environment consultancy headed by proprietor Dr Umesh Kulkarni, which conducted baseline environmental monitoring and socio-economic surveys for the Deonar WTE project, is not recognised by the National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET), the statutory body that audits and certifies EIA consultants nationally. FEE has been tasked with drafting EIA reports for several other public infrastructure projects in the city. These include assessments for MMRDA’s Metro-2A and Metro-7 lines, and the BMC’s solid waste processing facility in Kanjurmarg.

Dr Umesh Kulkarni, proprietor of FEE, also confirmed that his organisation has operated without NABET accreditation for “the past five or six years”. “There is a stay order from the Bombay High Court against the ministry’s office memorandums, which remains valid. I have been in the business for three decades and our team of experts, across sectors, have conducted several successful EIA projects.” The absence of NABET recognition does not preclude FEE from conducting such assessments. The accreditation was made mandatory for EIA Consultant Organizations by the Union environment ministry through an Office Memorandum dated December 2, 2009, FEE has obtained a stay order from the Bombay high court against the direction.

“Fine Envirotech Engineers… have been granted stay of the Office Memorandums issued by the MoEF by which Environment Consultants were directed to have an accreditation from NABET,” states a letter written by FEE’s legal counsel to the environment ministry in September 2017, a copy of which has been accessed by HT. “By virtue of the same, Fine Envirotech Engineers are carrying various category projects all over India and are currently engaged by a varied clientele including government and private,” the letter continues.

The HC order referred to was passed on August 23, 2013. The stay order continues to be valid. With the matter still subjudice, FEE is allowed to continue operations, but without statutory oversight.

“The CO’s arrangement with the BMC is not illegal per se, but raises an important question which needs to be answered in public interest. Why are authorities giving work to an organisation that is not duty bound to a centrally mandated level of quality, and which does not get audited regularly? Even if the CO is technically capable, it creates a major hole in the accountability,” said Zaman Ali, a city-based environmental lawyer.

Hindustan Times also spoke to representatives of two other COs based in Mumbai, accredited by NABET. “As a certified organisation, it is our view that such projects should be given only to accredited COs which have proven sector-specific expertise. The NABET certification process is riddled with red-tape and could be improved, but having accreditation is mandatory,” said a proprietor of one such firm, seeking anonymity.

Experts also said the permissibility of unaccredited EIAs is questionable in light of the MoEFCC’s March 2016 amendment to the EIA notification, which clearly states that such work is to be undertaken only by certified organisations.

BMC’s chief engineer for solid waste management, Kishor Bhambure, was unable for a comment. However, a subordinate official who is directly involved with the project, but requested anonymity, said they were not aware of such an amendment in law. “But we know that FEE is not recognised by NABET. They have a case pending in the courts and are in possession of a stay order, which makes them eligible to carry out the EIA for our Deonar plant,” said the official.

There are, in fact, multiple stay orders in the matter passed by the High Courts of Gujarat and Karnataka as well, on the basis of different petitions from COs. “As a result of these stays by High Courts, some consultants who were actually not found competent through a detailed assessment process, are carrying out EIAs for various sectors thereby potentially endangering the projects as well as the environment and people around. Additionally, some other consultant organizations, who have not even applied for accreditation, are using this route to by-pass the entire process and doing work at inexplicably low costs. This is a big disincentive for… consultant organizations... who are willing to follow the process directed by the Government and are making continuous efforts and investments to produce proper EIAs,” the Quality Council of India noted in an internal report in April 2015.

FEE’s Deonar EIA report itself has been criticised for a lack of rigour. A solid waste management expert certified by the Quality Council of India, and who has at least a decade of experience conducting similar impact assessments for projects in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, said while seeking anonymity, “The EIA report suffers from a few gaps. Firstly, the OC has not ascertained whether the waste material from Deonar landfill is suitable for incineration. Second, there is no chemical analysis of the leachate generated by the landfill site, which may be polluting groundwater. There has been data collection, but the data has not been meaningfully interpreted for public benefit.”

Moreover, the expert also pointed out that FEE has not, in its draft EIA document, adequately disclosed the names of concerned experts -- also known as Functional Area Experts -- involved in the exercise, along with their qualifications. “This disclosure is usually in the final chapter of any standard EIA document. In the given EIA report, in Chapter 12, the consultant has just given a person’s CV as consultant disclosure, without mentioning accreditation status of that person. There is no sector-wise list of appropriate experts. This is a violation of EIA guidelines,” said the QCI-certified expert quoted above.

Experts also highlighted that there is likely to be an inherent conflict of interest when project proponents are allowed to appoint EIA consultants at their own discretion, and suggested that, to bring more transparency to this process, the consultants would ideally be allocated by regulatory authorities themselves.

Commenting on the matter, Meenakshi Kapoor, an independent environmental policy researcher, “”This case raises more questions when viewed with a March 2020 order of the MoEFCC, in which it states that consultants who do not stick to the issued Terms of Reference should be issued a show cause notice and repeat offenders should be delisted. If non-accredited consultants can operate, they have nothing to lose even if they do a shoddy job and are told off for it.”