Lok Ayuka order puts the brake on TTP

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 18. The State Lok Ayuka order restricting the Travancore Titanium Products (TTP) from taking up the proposed Rs. 100-crore effluent treatment plant has brought fresh pressure on the factory management to take a final decision on the pollution control project even as the Government appears to be dragging its feet on the issue.

With the period of the global tenders for the effluent treatment project expiring in April, the company finds itself running out of time. After a prolonged process, the management had shortlisted two competent firms, one based in Finland and the other in Switzerland, for the acid recovery plant which is a critical unit in the effluent treatment project.

The TTP management was preparing to renegotiate the tenders before finalising the contract when the Lok Ayuka verdict put the brakes on the process.

The order directed the company to take up the submarine pipeline project which was recommended by the National Institute of Oceanography in 1980 and later approved by the Dr. A. D. Damodaran Commission in 1997.

The project involves the discharge of effluents into the sea 750 metres from the shore at a depth of 60 feet to neutralise the acid in sea water.

But the project had been abandoned after two unsuccessful attempts in 1986 and 1995 following the resistance of the local fishermen who argued that the marine pollution would affect fish resources.

They also feared that fishing nets would be caught in the diffusers and that the pipeline would break loose in the fury of the sea. The then company management had assured that a buoy would be kept to keep the diffusers floating so that the fishing nets would be protected.

They had also promised to lay cast iron rings and concrete blocks to ensure proper anchorage of the pipe. But the fishermen remained unconvinced and the scheme had to be dropped.

The order issued by the Lok Ayuka pointed out that Rs. 45 lakhs had already been spent on purchasing the pipes which were stored on the factory premises.

It said the amount spent had to be utilised and the pipes could not be allowed to be wasted. However, with no indication yet that the fishermen community was prepared to give up its adamant stand on the issue, TTP finds itself in a bind.

The counsel for the TTP pointed out that even if the work was taken up under police protection, no diving company or contractor would be prepared to execute the work. With the Lok Ayuka order preventing the company from going ahead with the effluent treatment plant and the inability to implement the submarine pipeline project, the company faces a dead end.

The treatment plant is crucial to the expansion plans of the factory which aim at product diversification and capacity augmentation. The second phase of the expansion project envisages diversification into textile and rutile grade titanium expected to enhance the turnover to Rs. 200 crores.

The Government, meanwhile, remains indifferent to the plight of the company, with no initiative yet on major proposals. The Damodaran Committee had recommended discontinuation of the service charge on TTP products and the marketing arrangement through the Kerala State Industrial Products Trading Corporation which was introduced in 1979.

The committee noted that termination of the service charge would help to create adequate reserve funds for TTP's expansion, modernisation and pollution control projects. But four years after the report was submitted, the Government was yet to consider the recommendation.

Speedy decision-making will be crucial to TTP's existence as it faces a series of threats to its market position in the near future. The impending rationalisation of the import and excise duty on titanium dioxide is expected to attract foreign players posing a major challenge to the company.

Another threat is from the public-sector, Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited, which is going full steam ahead on expansion plans. The KMML produces rutile grade titanium dioxide which is a substitute for the anatase grade produced by TTP.

Caught between an apathetic Government, a hostile neighbourhood and stiff market competition, TTP is fighting with its back to the wall.

With hundreds of families dependent on the factory for survival, the Government cannot afford to let the fate of the company hang in the balance. However, with Assembly elections round the corner, the Government would prefer to let the problems simmer rather than take any harsh decision which might upset its political calculations.

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Section  : Southern States
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