Rosaiah takes on Ramesh over stalled projects

Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah are engaged in a war of words over the ministry's decision to suspend four projects in the state. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Aug 5, 2010, 24:15:04 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah are engaged in a war of words over the ministry's decision to suspend four projects in the state.

The ministry took the decision after allegations that the projects were being developed on wetlands.

The ministry had suspended environment clearance to three power projects and an aluminum project in the state last Friday on the ground of alleged violation of Forest Conservation Act.

The action was taken following a report by a ministry panel. It says clearance was obtained on basis of irregular wetland maps and forest area description.

"The clearance has been suspended till further investigation is conducted," Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha member from AP, said.

Rosaiah hit back saying the ministry should not hold back approvals due to protests by green activists and private groups.

"The 20,000 MW of proposed power projects in the state have necessary environment clearances but now various NGOs/private interest groups are raising issues adversely affecting some of these," he said in a letter addressed to Ramesh.

"I am sure that you will kindly ensure that necessary steps are taken by your ministry that clearances accorded following due process are not interfered with in any manner merely based on certain presumptive petitions," he wrote on July 29.

The ministry decision is also said to be fallout of police firing on villagers in Srikakulam district over a power project by Nagarjuna Construction Limited in Sompeta and National Environment Appellate Authority quashing the ministry's clearance to the project.

The authority had found the project will destroy local ecology and was obtained based on identifying wetland as wasteland.

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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