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About Us
The freedahanu.org website is a collaborative project of the Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association (DTEWA), the Dahanu Parisar Bachao Samiti (DPBS) and INTACH - Chapter Dahanu, organisations working for environmental justice in Dahanu.
Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association (DTEWA)
The Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association (DTEWA) has been relentlessly
crusading for the cause of environmental justice for the last decade and a half. Opposing the setting up of a fossil fuel based thermal power plant in the region in 1989, the group has since pursued a successful legal strategy to protect Dahanu from blatant industrialisation and environmental degradation.
With DTEWA's lobbying, Dahanu was declared an ecologically fragile area by the
Ministry of environment and forests, in 1991 and a special authority has been constituted to oversee Dahanu's development. The DTEWA is actively involved in lobbying this Authority to ensure that the overall development of Dahanu Taluka is in consonance with the principle of environmental protection and social justice. Towards this end, the DTEWA continues to play a significant role in ensuring that
Town and Regional Plans for Dahanu Taluka made by government authorities are in compliance with environmentally sound values.
Several of the legal victories over the last decade have in fact been landmarks in
the history of environmental struggles in India, the latest one in March 2005 directing the local thermal power station to guarantee the setting up of Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) a pollution control device, by a bank guarantee of Rupees 300 crore as the thermal power plant was evading to install one for over fourteen years. The DTEWA has been consistently demanding that the fossil fuel based plant switch to a cleaner option like natural gas given the horticultural and agricultural character of the region. Moreover while the plant continues to deplete the area of its natural resources and send power to Mumbai, Dahanu continues to face an acute shortage of electricity.
Besides, the DTEWA is involved in campaigning on other environmental issues such as
solid waste management, afforestation and conservation of mangroves. Moreover, the group also runs an environmental education programme with the Municipal as well as the tribal schools in Dahanu with the aim of cultivating a more sensitive and conscious younger generation.
The DTEWA consists of a group of local resident farmers and activists and has the
legal support from sensitive lawyers in Mumbai.
Dahanu Parisar Bachao Samiti (DPBS)
The Dahanu Parisar Bachao Samiti (DPBS) has as its constituents the farmers and horticulturists of Dahanu, emerging as a community response to the damaging effects of the Plant on their chikoo yield. The Samiti came together as a network of farmers in 2003, protesting the renewal of Reliance Energy's consent to operate license and has since been active in campaigning against the Plant. The Dahanu Parisar Bachao Samiti's primary demand is for clean energy production, using cleaner fuel like gas. Members of the Samiti are deeply concerned about the impact of the polluting power station on their agriculture, horticulture and livelihoods.
INTACH, Chapter Dahanu
The Dahanu Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage is essentially involved in protecting Dahanu's culture and heritage. Initiated by a group of ardent environmentalists in the early 1990's, INTACH Chapter Dahanu now works closely with school children instilling in them a sense of pride for their history, culture and environment. INTACH, Chapter Dahanu organizes treks, camps and environmental education workshops regularly. Members of INTACH have played an important and supportive role in the struggle against the Thermal power station.
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