Times of India , Monday, October 15, 2007

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: While India raises a toast to climate warrior R K Pachauri and IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) team members for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, six environment activists are languishing behind bars. They had attempted to raise awareness about the pollution caused by the toxic fumes from Kolaghat Thermal Power Station (KTPS) by scaling a 250-ft smokestack at KTPS to paint the message ‘SMOKING KILLS' on Thursday. The six Greenpeace activists were arrested under the West Bengal Maintenance of Order Act. Environment secretary M L Meena said the environment activists were arrested for breaching security at KTPS. This is illegal. "We cannot support environment activists for this," he said. The six were identified as Brikesh Singh (27), Gene Hasmi (36), Sonali Bhattacharya (31), Saptarshi Dhar (23), Asena Pamei (26) and Gaurav (26). While Sonali and Saptarshi are based in Kolkata, others are from Bangalore. Greenpeace spokesperson Vinuta Gopal claimed the activists had not committed any wrong. "We wanted to raise awareness and that's why we wrote the message on the chimney. We did not have any intention to cause damage. We wanted to make people aware that burning coal for the production of thermal power triggers climate change. This process also leads to the generation of a huge amount of CO2," she said. Gopal alleged that instead of arresting climate change, the state government was busy arresting the environment activists and added that legal consultations are on so that the arrested activists can get necessary legal support. The activists will be produced in Tamluk court on Monday. According to the spokesperson, the activists could face jail for ten years or more. However, advocate Subrata Mukherjee felt the activists had not committed an offence as they were only trying to raise awareness and trying to draw the government's attention to check pollution and protect life. Coal is the dirtiest of conventional fossil fuels, producing about a third more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity generated than oil and about double that of natural gas. Currently 67% of India's electricity is from coal-fired power plants. Additional plants, right now in the proposal stage, will lead to doubling of CO2 emissions from the power sector. This will push India to the third slot — behind US and China — in overall CO2 emissions. "We are saying that coal fired power plants — the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide — will lead India down the path of devastating impacts of climate change," said Greenpeace India climate campaigner Soumyabrata Rahut. He pointed out that climate change would lead to erratic and intense monsoon patterns, affecting agriculture and sea-level rise, thereby affecting millions residing in coastal region and Kolkata.

SOURCE : Times of India, Monday, 15 October 2007