Ambuja plant project in Vizag attracts stiff oposition over health, environment risks

The decision of Ambuja Cements Limited, part of Adani Group to set up a greenfield cement plant in a Visakhapatnam has kicked up a row with the residents and several civil society organisations expressing their concerns over the potential health and environmental risks.

As the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) notified holding of a public hearing here sometime in first week of October, there is an overwhelming demand to cancel the decision to allot 20 acres at Peda Gantyada, known for thickly populated residential colonies with several industries in the vicinity.

"The residents in the area have formed a committee to spearhead an agitation to convince the government to abandon the project," B.B. Ganesh, Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents Welfare Association (VARWA) told Bizz Buzz.

Praja Aikya Vedika (PAK) has been protesting for past few days saying the project will contaminate groundwater, worsen air quality ambience due to heavy truck movement and lead to fish-kill.

The opponents of the plant said it will facilitate dumping untreated effluents hitting the marine ecosystem.

According to the EIA report, the plant will use clinker gypsum, flyash and slag raw material. It will source 30,000 tonnes clinker and 2,000 tonnes gypsum from nearby Adani Gangavaram Port Limited (AGPL), 5,000 tonnes flyash from NTPC Simhadri and 5,000 tonnes slag from Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL).

Ambuja Cements is investigating around Rs.8,000 to Rs.9,000 crore on Capex for expanding its capacity across 12 projects in FY25, informed sources said

Meanwhile, social activist and former IAS officer EAS Sarma said Ambuja's cement grinding unit with production capacity of 2x2 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) is a highly polluting unit, to be located within 130 meters of Pedagantyada habitations and within 290 meters of Gajuwaka habitations, whereas no such units should be located within 500 meters of a habitation.

He pointed out that that the EIA study itself indicates Pedagantyada habitations are within 130 meters and Gajuwaka habitations within 290 meters from the residential areas.

In a representation to the AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), he said in so far as the site chosen for the proposed cement unit is concerned, the norm is that it should not be located within 500 meters of the nearest habitation.

He said "for example, the Telangana PCB has incorporated such a norm by issuing a notification (https://tgpcb.cgg.gov.in/Home/SitingGuide). What is valid for Telangana is valid for AP, as the lives of the people in AP are as valuable as in Telangana."

Had the APPCB and the District Administration cared for the well-being of the residents of Pedagantyada and Gajuwaka, they would have ordered the project proponent to commission a baseline health study covering people residing in the vicinity of the site of the project, he stated.