India has taken a regressive step of excluding metro projects from public discussion and Environment Impact Assessment. This further hinders transparent decision making compliant with public consultation. We need a bigger debate on this - a campaign led by numerous civic groups is asking for a discussion on this.

Dear Friends,

Over the past few years there is a tremendous investment in Metro construction in various cities of India based on the perceived claims of success of Delhi Metro.  Considered a prestigious project, States and cities are vying with each other to build Metros, regardless of their need, appropriateness or affordability.

International experience with Metro construction suggests that such large projects must be pursued only on thorough due diligence and after careful evaluation of their environmental and social impacts.  India, however, has taken the regressive step of exempting Metro projects from the need to secure environmental clearances per the Environment Impact Assessment Notification.  Consequently, the only possibility of fully comprehending its impacts has been lost.  The public have thus been denied their due right of participation in decision making relating to such mega projects.

Enclosed is a Campaign Appeal initiated by Citizens for a Better Public Transport, Hyderabad, National Alliance for Peoples Movements and Environment Support Group, Bengaluru.  The appeal is addressed to Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Indian Minister of State for Environment and Forests and is to demand that Metro projects must be brought under the purvies of the EIA Notification as a means of guiding decisions relating to Metros on the basis of their economic, environmental and social impacts.

You may endorse this appeal by clicking on this link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/metroeia/ .  Altenatively, you may email your endorsements (retaining the same subject) and email sruthi@esgindia.org. Please include your full name, organisation (if applicable) and address when you endorse.  If signing the online petition on behalf of your organisation, please include the Organisation and contact details in the Comments section.

Kindly circulate this appeal amongst your networks for endorsements.

Thank you,

C. Ramachandraiah, Citizens for a Better Public Transport, Hyderabad.

Medha Patkar, National Alliance for Peoples Movements.

Leo F. Saldanha, Environment Support Group, Bengaluru.

PS:  The appeal will be submitted to the Hon'ble Minister by 25 November 2009.

Appeal to Shri Jairam Ramesh,

Hon’ble Minister of State for Environment and Forests

Government of India (Independent Charge)

Online Petition by the Civil Society Organisations and Concerned Citizens in India

Dear Shri Ramesh,

As you may be aware, Metro Rail Projects (MRPs) in many countries are subject to a series of rigorous evaluations and public consultations to determine the environmental and social impacts of their construction. MRPs are among the largest mega projects being executed in urban areas today, and involve massive investments. They cause extensive impacts on the local environment and human settlements, especially during construction stages.

Over the past decade several cities in India have decided to implement MRPs. Largely based on the Delhi Metro design, these MRPs are essentially elevated corridors aligned over key traffic corridors and is one technological response to the need for mass rapid transit systems (MRTS) in our densely crowded cities.

If MRPs are a choice amongst various technological options to resolve the problem of mass transit, then it is only just to expect that such decisions are taken in a transparent manner and fully compliant with public consultation and planning norms. It is also natural to expect that such large mega projects are conceived and implemented after duly consulting affected communities and on careful and transparent consideration of the impact of such initiatives on the economy, culture, environment and social character of our cities. Finally, if more eminent and economically viable MRTS solutions exist, it is all the more reason to subject investment in a MRP to a thorough public debate that fully justify India's commitment to the Principle of Prior and Informed Consent.

Quite in contrast to such reasonable expectations of a public project, MRPs are instead being thrust on Indian cities as stand alone projects and without any public consultation whatsoever. Public accountability is weak as select groups of consultants formulate proposals in secrecy and rush decisions through Central and State Cabinets sidestepping even compulsory debates in Parliament and Legislatures over allocation of massive financial resources to such mega projects. It is not surprising at all then, that public has no role whatsoever in a decision that will fundamentally and irreversibly affect their life, livelihoods and the environmental and social character of their urban habitats.

There is overwhelming evidence internationally to suggest that the proponents of urban mega projects overestimate benefits merely to get them sanctioned. The low ridership of 7 lakhs, as against estimated 25 lakhs in Delhi metro phase I, even after several years of operation, is a case in point. Not going through transparent evaluations and public consultations may lead to these mega projects getting embroiled in real estate and corporate scams (eg. Maytas Metro scandal in Hyderabad) and will be counterproductive and detrimental to our cities and citizens.

If MRPs are developed in a carefully considered, consultative and public manner, it could possibly aid in relieving the enormous pressures our cities are under in delivering traffic and public transport solutions. But it must also be recognised upfront that MRP systems potentially displace communities, cause extensive loss of homes and livelihoods, and fundamentally affect urban aesthetics due to the loss of green cover and public spaces. In the particular case of elevated rail corridors, it is also a globally documented impact that expected depression of economy on streets where such corridors pass through can lead to an increase in crime rates. In addition, there would be significant increase in noise pollution, and the congestion on road surface below will result in air pollution rise due to a tunnelling effect.

A review of currently implemented MRPs reveal that they significantly compromise walking and cycling spaces on roads, especially given our indulgence to prioritise the motor vehicle over every other mode of travel. This is likely to increase accidents and casualties of pedestrians and cyclists. In effect, therefore, MRPs as presently implemented are largely violative of various progressive features of the National Urban Transport Policy.

Applicability of EIA Notification to Metro Rail Projects:

In light of irreversible its impacts on urban habitats, MRPs need to be implemented after due and careful consideration of its environmental and social impacts. On this basis MRPs were included in the list of projects requiring prior environmental clearance in the Draft Environment Impact Assessment Notification dated 15 September 2005 (for inviting suggestions/objections from the public) issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. There was widespread support and agreement that this was a correct approach. However, based on the mere opinion of Mr. E. Sreedharan, MD of Delhi Metro and a prime consultant to MRPs across India, who claimed in his letter to the Prime Minister's Office that these megaprojects do not have significant environmental and social impacts, the final EIA Notification issued on 14 September 2006 omitted MRPs from the list of projects requiring environmental clearance.

Such omission of MRPs from the EIA Notification, 2006 is arbitrary and discriminatory, and the beneficiaries clearly are metro rail lobbies (lobbies of the construction companies and international coach manufacturers). This issue has now come up in a PIL (WP 18483/2008) in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. However, MoEF has not yet filed the counter on the question whether environmental and social impacts are a core concern that ought to be addressed prior to implementation of MRPs, this even a year after issuance of notice.

This silence of the Ministry must be viewed in the context of the EIA Notification, 2006 requirement for huge construction activities such as 'Building and Construction' and 'Townships and Area Development' to undergo a comprehensive environmental clearance procedure. MRPs involve massive construction activity for stations, piers, parking lots, commercial zones, elevated corridors, railway yards, power stations, etc., which impact heavily built up densely populated core city areas. Yet such megaprojects with very high environmental and social impacts have been exempted from environmental clearance.

Communities directly affected by MRPs suffer the worst as adverse impacts on their lives and livelihoods are not factored into the cost of the project at all. Metro rail authorities across many cities are refusing to furnish even basic details of the projects to the public speciously claiming that impact details need not be shared as MRPs are exempted from the EIA Notification, 2006. Even applications for information under the RTI Act, 2005 are often given scant regard.

Impacts of MRPs under implementation:

Each city has its own history, heritage, topography, built environment and human settlements pattern. Transport models should take into account all these factors, which, unfortunately is not the case with MRPs under implementation. For instance, the proposed elevated metro in Hyderabad is going to permanently deface historic heritage buildings and sites of Hyderabad city (viz., Assembly building, Salarjung Museum, Clock Tower, Mojam Jahi Market etc.) and result in total demolition of old shopping areas such as Sultan Bazar and Badi Chawdi. The elevated corridors will also pass very close to residences affecting the lives of lakhs of people due to the effects of noise pollution, vibrations, intrusion of privacy, etc.

The elevated metro construction in Bangalore is resulting in felling of hundreds of trees and destruction of parks, including the world famous Lalbagh and Cubbon Parks. Furthermore, during construction, the project has been plagued by a series of problems relating to dislocation of human settlements. People have highlighted through series of protests that Metro is resulting in illegal commercialisation of Lalbagh and Cubbon Park and various other public spaces. Another significant cause of concern has been that Metro contractors have engaged children from faraway Jharkand, West Bengal, etc.

In Mumbai, 40,000 slum dwellers of Laljipada on the banks of Poisar river will be displaced to make way for railcar shed construction of the Metro. Thousands more are indirectly affected due to metro construction, while a large extent of mangroves is likely to be cleared to make way for the Metro. In Delhi, several resident welfare associations have agitated before various authorities and the Courts that the elevated corridor running through their colonies are being implemented without any consideration of social and environmental impacts.

All these instances suggest that the Metro systems as they are planned and implemented today have overlooked a wide range of significant environmental and social concerns. This unnecessarily urgency in implementation of MRPs is causing a variety of disturbances resulting in protests, litigations, and campaigns, that are affecting the pace and implementation of these mega projects.

Principles 10 and 11 of the Rio Declaration, to which India is a signatory, mandate that public must be involved in decisions that relate to their environment. Keeping this commitment in view, countries across the world have subjected MRPs to due and prior informed consultation and rigorous environmental, social and techno-economic assessments. In India, not only are MRPs exempted from EIA Notification, but proponents are blatantly flouting Town and Country Planning Rules and Regulations in planning and implementing such project. If such fundamental changes in our urban areas is not carefully undertaken,

Keeping all this in view, we urge you to immediately issue an amendment to the EIA Notification 2006 including the Metro Rail Projects in the Schedule so that they undergo a full review of their environmental and social impacts based on public hearings and consultations. This amendment should be applicable to all the Metro Rail Projects that are currently in different stages of formulation and also those being implemented in many Indian cities.

Yours truly,

C. Ramachandraiah, Citizens for a Better Public Transport, Hyderabad.

Leo F. Saldanha, Environment Support Group, Bengaluru.

Medha Patkar, National Alliance for Peoples Movements.