Indian fishermen hail U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear World Bank suit

BANGKOK, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Farmers and fishermen in western India have welcomed a U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear their lawsuit against a World Bank agency, which financed a power plant they blame for damaging the environment and their livelihoods.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal by the villagers of a lower court ruling that the International Finance Corp (IFC) was immune from such lawsuits under federal law.

The court must now consider for the first time whether international organisations are immune from such suits under federal law, according to the advocacy group EarthRights International (ERI), which is representing the plaintiffs.

“This is a big victory for us,” said Bharat Patel, a plaintiff and general secretary of the fishermen’s group Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangatha.

“We fought for so many years to be heard. This decision gives us hope,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The case revolves around the IFC’s decision in 2008 to provide $450 million in loans for a coal-fired plant operated by a Tata Power unit near Mundra, in Gujarat state.

Loans from the IFC include provisions requiring that certain environmental standards will be met.

But the 4,000 megawatt plant - billed as key to providing cheap energy and creating jobs - has had a “devastating and irreversible impact” on the coastal ecosystem, according to the submission by villagers who live near the plant.

Coal ash damages crops, water for drinking and irrigation have been contaminated, while discharges from the plant’s cooling system have reduced fish stocks, they said.

Lead plaintiff Budha Ismail Jam and