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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cloud on Nayachar project

Cloud on Nayachar project

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published Published on Aug 28, 2012   modified Modified on Aug 28, 2012
-The Telegraph

The Union environment ministry has raised concerns over the proposed power plant on Nayachar island, casting a cloud on the Rs 8,600-crore investment proposal by NRI businessman Prasoon Mukherjee.

At a meeting earlier this month with Bengal government officials, an expert appraisal committee under the central ministry asked the state to come up with a revised environment protection plan.

Handing over a 100-page dossier prepared by a group of professionals, chaired by C.R. Babu, after visiting the riverine island in the Hooghly estuary near Haldia in East Midnapore, the expert committee listed four main issues.

• The Hooghly estuary area is ecologically and environmentally sensitive and could be affected by a thermal power plant that burns coal to generate energy.

• The hydrology (water flow and discharge) of the river could be affected.

• Fisheries in the area could be at risk.

• So could the mangroves close by.

“The project proponent had earlier cited examples of power plants on islands abroad, but those are oceanic islands, not a riverine island like Nayachar,” a source in the Union ministry said.

State government officials requested the committee to take a re-look. V.P. Raja, the chairman of the expert committee, then handed over the dossier and asked the state to come up with proposals addressing the concerns.

Industry analysts said the power plant might not be financially viable if the demands were to be met.

However, Mukherjee, chairman of the Universal Success Group, said he was confident of securing approval from the Centre even though it could take “some time”. “It is a process. Everyone has to go through this process. I am not worried,” Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee added that he had offered to set up the power plant at Raghunathpur, Purulia, if the state wanted to hasten the project.

“If they give me land there, the project could be expedited,” he said. Government sources refused to confirm if any commitment had been made on the new site.

Mukherjee said he would save Rs 800 crore on construction costs if the power plant came up on the mainland. “I have coal mines in Indonesia. I will import coal through the Dhamra port in Odisha and haul it to Purulia by rail,” he said, adding that he had not given up on Nayachar.

A spokesperson for Universal Crescent Power said in response to an emailed question: “We are replying to the ministry…. We are committed to develop the thermal power plant and industries on Nayachar island.”

Bengal environment secretary P.S. Kahlon said: “The (Nayachar power) project has not been shelved but held back.”

However, state industries minister Partha Chatterjee cried foul. “The Centre has said projects initiated by our government cannot be set up in Nayachar as it falls within the coastal regulatory zone, where heavy industries are not allowed. But we know that the chemical hub was approved during the Left Front’s tenure. We ask, why?”

Chatterjee added: “We want a political debate. We have all related papers, which will reveal the truth.”

The Centre had cleared a chemical hub for Bengal but the earlier Nayachar project was shelved before the Union environment ministry could take the final decision.

The environment ministry had listed 25 areas of concern and asked the Left government to comply with them. But the project was mothballed when Mukherjee fell out with the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, which cancelled the agreement for the hub.

Nayachar was in a way tied to the tumultuous events that changed the course of power politics in Bengal. The same jinxed chemical hub was the flashpoint for the Nandigram conflagration, following which Nayachar was picked.

After coming to power, Mamata, who had opposed the chemical hub on environmental grounds, scrapped the project. The new government inked a fresh agreement with Mukherjee for a power plant, an eco-tourism park and a light engineering hub.


The Telegraph, 28 August, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120828/jsp/frontpage/story_15906518.jsp#.UDwsBaAXVwc


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