http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/green-tribunal-orders-halt-to-bhadradri-work/article7994414.ece
Green tribunal orders halt to Bhadradri work - SWATHI V <http://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/swathi-v/> COMMENT <http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/green-tribunal-orders-halt-to-bhadradri-work/article7994414.ece#comments> · PRINT <http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/green-tribunal-orders-halt-to-bhadradri-work/article7994414.ece?css=print> · T <http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/green-tribunal-orders-halt-to-bhadradri-work/article7994414.ece> T <http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/green-tribunal-orders-halt-to-bhadradri-work/article7994414.ece> inShare <http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/green-tribunal-orders-halt-to-bhadradri-work/article7994414.ece#> [image: Work in progress at Bhadradri Thermal Power Project.] Work in progress at Bhadradri Thermal Power Project. The National Green Tribunal (NGT), in its latest hearing, has asked the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGENCO) to submit its response to the complaints about violations of various laws for the proposed 4X270 MW Bhadradri Thermal Power Project at Manuguru. Responding to a complaint by the Human Rights Forum (HRF), the tribunal’s zonal bench has also ordered for stalling of the construction work for the plant till further orders. The HRF, in its complaint, mentioned that the state-owned generation company is going ahead with construction of the plant simply equipped with approval for Terms of Reference (ToR) by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), though Environmental Clearance (EC) is yet to come. The project proposal first came up before the EAC in February this year, when the committee had asked TSGENCO to examine the feasibility of switching to super-critical technology. It may be recalled that the Manuguru plant was designed to be sub-critical, with installation of four 270 MW units. The units were sought to be diverted here by contracting agency BHEL after its agreement with another private generator fell through owing to cancellation of coal blocks by the Supreme Court. However, Central Electricity Authority’s latest norms mandate use of only supercritical technology for thermal power generation, which means only plants with capacities of over 500 MW can be installed in view of fuel efficiency and environmental safety. During its second meeting in May, 2015, the EAC has granted approval for ToR, but asked the company to seek exemption from CEA for use of sub-critical technology, and to carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). HRF, in its petition, has alleged that substantial amount of work for the project had already been initiated, such as demarcating the project site, transportation of material and soil excavation. Due to this, there has been considerable change in the landscape which could impact the EIA study, it said. Also raising concerns about the impact on River Godavari which is 0.8 kilometres away, and the Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary 10.8 km away, the complaint posed questions of the project’s environmental safety. Also pending is the mandatory public consultation process through the TSPCB, and payment of compensation to those who lost their lands to the project, it said. -- B.Karthik Navayan, http://karthiknavayan.wordpress.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
