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Power sector may trigger eco disaster

India's growing emphasis on energy production may boost economic development, but experts fear it will be disastrous for the country's environment in the long run.

Ever since India started its economic liberalisation in 1991, the industrial energy consumption has been more than tripled and demand for uninterrupted power supply has become a core issue for each successive government, according to experts.

R K Pachauri, director of the Tata Energy Research Institute, believes the country lacks a clear-cut energy policy which should be reviewed immediately. ''A severe environmental crisis is in the offing if India's escalated energy needs are not sustainably met,'' he warns.

For instance, coal mining has degraded large areas in Bihar and West Bengal which may never recover. A few years ago, there was an earthquake-like situation due to heavy mining and millions of rural farmers were on the verge of losing their agricultural land. Following widespread protests, the government stopped giving licences to mining contractors.

Energy is the key to all sorts of developmental activities and nearly 70 per cent of the power produced is consumed by industry alone. Therefore, India plans to enhance its thermal generating capacity to 87,200 MW by 1998. This will be roughly 20 times New York city's present annual energy consumption.

While thermal power stations are a major cause of land destruction through mining and atmospheric pollution, hydro-electric power stations have become a major cause of forest destruction and adverse effects on riverine ecology.

The controversial Narmada Dam in central India will submerge more than 130,000 hectares of forest and farmland, which is four times higher than what was anticipated at the time of planning the project.

Pachauri believes the country must rethink its energy plans. ''The environmental implications of the energy cycle have already reached a critical point. The country has to balance the entire development strategy,'' he said.

In fact, thermal power plants fired with coal, which reportedly heighten the greenhouse effect, generate an estimated 57 per cent of India's energy needs. This is to increase under the government's Ninth five-year Plan.

''One day it would lead to an ecological disaster,'' cautions an expert, pointing out that reckless mining has degraded the Raniganj and Jharia coal belt in Bihar and eastern India.

Deforestation has affected the bio-mass, a renewable source of energy which meets 40 per cent of the total energy requirements. India's green cover is disappearing at the rate of 2.44 per cent annually -- 56,000 hectares.

Deforestation also leads to soil erosion and increases the sedimentation in rivers, shortening the lifespan of hydro-electric projects.

There are five semi-major rivers in central and south India which have already gone into oblivion. The riverine water channels are diverted from one region to another, affecting the agricultural prospects in the region. So, the country needs run-away river projects instead of large mega dam projects, experts say.

The bulk of Indian coal has a very high ash content, which both pollutes the air and affects soil fertility. Dust particles from thermal plants settle over a five-km radius. Pollution will only increase as thermal energy production rises.

The solid waste is very heterogeneous, and thus poses serious problems in disposal and management, apart from increasing environmental toxicity, which is widely responsible for water contamination.

Studies have shown that ash dumped by thermal power plants is contaminating drinking water in Singrauli, central India. None of the wells in the area supply potable water.

The Rihand reservoir, the area's largest drinking water source, contains traces of toxic cadmium, arsenic, selenium and nickel, because excess water from ash ponds is released into the reservoir.

Pachauri believes that India must shift to greater use of natural gas because it causes least damage to the environment. Alternative technologies and fuels will be vital in satisfying the growing demand for power.

Burning fossil fuels will increase acid rain, experts predict. Bombay and Delhi and their adjoining areas will experience acid rain within a few years as they are heavily industrialised.

Sulphur emissions at the Haldia refinery, near Calcutta, which processes imported crude oil and petroleum products has been alarming.

The government hopes to increase hydro-electric power generation to about 19,000 MW by the end of this year. But building dams across rivers for irrigation and power generation has enormous downstream effects.

For instance, the expected siltation rate of the Nizamsagar reservoir in Andhra Pradesh was 5.2 million cubic metres per annum. But the actual rate has now reached 13.8 million cubic metres and is expected to be 17.89 million cubic metres by 2000.