New conditions for hydro project

In a moral victory for BJP leader Uma Bharati, the environment ministry is expected to ask Alakananda Hydro Power Corporation Limited (AHPCL) to clear the muck in environment friendly manner and stop relocation of Dhara Devi temple till experts review the plan.

Updated on: Jun 30, 2011, 24:18:58 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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In a moral victory for BJP leader Uma Bharati, the environment ministry is expected to ask Alakananda Hydro Power Corporation Limited (AHPCL) to clear the muck in environment friendly manner and stop relocation of Dhara Devi temple till experts review the plan.

Before rejoining the BJP, Bharati had been protesting against the 330 MW project on river Alakananda and forced environment minister Jairam Ramesh to issue a stop work order on dam construction. Alakananda river is tributary of river Ganga.

The minister had constituted an inquiry committee on the alleged environmental violations, which submitted its report last year. Earlier IIT Roorkee and another inquiry committee had analysed the project.

"From 2008 to 2011, three committees have drawn pointed attention to the severe shortcomings pertaining to muck disposal. No further construction work should be allowed until AHPCL had demonstrably overhauled its practices of much disposal," Ramesh said, in an internal note this week.

The note also said that on relocation of Dhara Devi temple an outside agency like INTACH with a conservation architect should be brought on board. Only after the relocation plan has been modified resuming construction can be considered, he said, adding that the reworking of the plan should be done in consultation with local people and priest of the temple.

The minister also wants that environmental impact study of IIT Roorkee of Alakananda and Bhagirathi rivers to be studied before stop work order is revoked. The ministry is expected to issue a letter to APHCL in this regard on the 330 MW Alakananda hydro project this week.

Ramesh clears coal blocks for three power plants in Orissa
In a bid to change his image, environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday approved six coal blocks for three major power plants in Orissa.

"All the six coal-blocks are part of the IB Valley coalfield and only one (Meenakshi-A) is presently in the 'go' area, the other five being in 'no go' areas...All six blocks will now be considered by FAC (Forest Advisory Committee) as 'go' areas," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.

Giving green signal to clear coal-blocks linked to Ultra Mega Power Plants, the minister said the power ministry should give special focus on ash disposal and water availability.

Three coal-blocks (Meenakshi-A, Meenakshi-B and Meenakshi Dipside) have been allocated to the 3960MW/4000MW Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP).

Coal-blocks (Manoharpur and Manoharpur Dipside) have been allocated to the 1320 MW power plant of Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC). One coal-block (Dulanga) has been allocated to NTPC's 1600 MW power plant.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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