Shwe gas project- Right to Information in India a myth?

Mungpi
Mizzima News: 8 September, 2006 

The Government of India and its oil and gas companies eyeing natural gas from Burma have put the lid on information on the Shwe Gas pipeline project. Despite being the world's largest democracy, India has failed in its democratic principles by refusing the right to information to its own citizens on this contentious project.

Concerned over India's plan to import natural gas from military ruled Burma, an Indian lawyer has requested the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Gas Authority of India Limited for information on the proposed project.

Mr Saurabh Bhattacharjee, a lawyer and activist working with an Indian non-governmental organisation – 'The Other Media' - told Mizzima that he has been filing request letters since June 2006, for information on the gas transportation project – called Shwe Gas pipeline project – but is not satisfied with the little or no information provided by the companies and the ministries.

"The whole process has taken me over two months but I am not satisfied with the information that I have got," said Mr Bhattacharjee.

While the two ministries have replied to the request with little but wholly unsatisfactory information, GAIL and ONGC have not bothered to share any information on the projects, said Mr Bhattacharjee.

GAIL refused to give any information regarding the project, stating that the Indian constitution's right to information is only meant for 'persons' and not organisations. Bhattacharjee filed the request in his capacity as a member of 'The Other Media.'

"This is a wrong interpretation of the Indian Constitution," and it is a mere excuse to avoid making the information public, said Bhattacharjee.

Bhattacharjee said, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, however, replied that GAIL India Ltd. has prepared a Detailed Feasibility Report on transporting gas from Burma.

"It will be routed through Mizoram, Assam, Bengal and Bihar [States] with a length of 1,575 kilometres through Indian territory, [but] no decision has been taken to build the pipeline," said the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas but declined to give further information.

India is in a race along with China and Thailand to obtain the right to explore and transport gas from Burma's off-shore gas fields in the western coast of Arakan State. India's ONGC and GAIL has 20 percent and 10 percent stake respectively.

Mr Bhattacharjee said he has filed an appeal with the appellate authority of GAIL over the refusal to give information by the company's Central Public Information Officer.

"By barring me from the right to information, it shows that there is a lack of transparency in the whole project," said Bhattacharjee.

According to human rights groups the proposed gas pipeline project would have a serious negative impact on the environment and violation of human rights along the pipeline route.

Kim, the coordinator of the Shwe gas movement in India told Mizzima earlier that there has been large scale relocation of villages, forced labour and increased militarization in western Burma where the proposed pipeline will be laid.

Meanwhile, the North-East Students' Organisation (NESO), a student organisation in the northeastern states of India, has launched a campaign against the proposed gas pipeline bypassing the region claiming that it will bring in its wake human rights violations and lead to environmental destruction.

"We will set up a campaign office in Guwahati [capital of Assam state in northeast India], particularly for the Shwe gas pipeline," NESO's general secretary NSN Lotha told Mizzima earlier.

Mr Bhattacharjee said if they make the detailed information public the Indian government as well as the companies fear opposition in implementing the project.

In an effort to meet its growing energy needs, India is determined to obtain gas from Burma without responsibility to the people who would bear the consequences and is therefore acting in secrecy, said Mr Bhattacharjee.

According to Mr Bhattacharjee in order to start laying the pipeline, there has to be an environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest by submitting an environmental assessment to the ministry.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest, in reply to the request for information said no application for Environmental clearance has been filed so far.

"I have filed my request letters in order to know the details of the project and to highlight the lack of transparency in implementing the pipeline project that will negatively impact the people living in the region," said Mr Bhattacharjee.d