Thermal project ready to compensate farmers1 | Deccan Chronicle | 2011-02-05

Visakhapatnam, Feb. 4: The East Coast Ene-rgy Private Limited Thermal Power management has come forward to compensate the farmers and the fisherfolk whose land was being acquired for developing the super thermal power project in Kakarapalli village in Santabommali mandal in the district.

East Coast Energy Private Limited is a special purpose vehicle jointly sponsored by Singapore-based Asian Genco pte Ltd, Athena Energy Ventures Private Ltd, AIP Power Private Ltd, ABIR Infrastructure Private Ltd and PTC India Financial Services Ltd. Total cost of the project is Rs 6,500 crore.

Joint collector E. Sridhar told reporters that the district management was making all efforts to hammer out solutions to the problems that have cropped up recently. He said a section of people have been opposing the power plant while some people were for the plant as it lead to urbanisation and hasten development in the backward region of the district.

The demand for compensation by the farmers and the fisherfolk was dealt with the management of the East Coast Thermal Power project management and they had agreed to meet their demand. The management also agreed to create a corpus for the development of the region which include infrastructure, roads, hospitals and schools.

In response to a demand by the people to convene another public hearing for the power plant, the joint collector said the district administration has no power to call for another hearing. Only the Central government or the Union Ministry for Environments and Forests appointed tribunal could call for another meeting with the people to seek an opinion, he added.

A representative of the company said the work has begun on the 2,640 mega watt power plant.

Source: Thermal project ready to compensate farmers1 | Deccan Chronicle | 2011-02-05

‘Study of all power plants essential’ - Mumbai - DNA

Only the combined study of all the proposed power projects on the Konkan coastal belt, will give the real picture of the possible impact on the environmental of these plants, says the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

The 200-km-long Konkan coastline is expected to have around 15 thermal power plants, with a capacity of around 23,000MW. Adding to that will be the much controversial Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project, which has capacity of 9,900MW.

“This is not the question of one nuclear power plant. When you have such a huge number of projects coming up, you have to study the impact in totality. If you see the proposed plans on map, there is no open space available in the belt of 200km from Dabhol to Sindhudurg. Plus, all these projects will be releasing hot water in to the sea, which will increase the seawater temperature,” said Dr Deepak Apte, deputy director, conservation.

He added that the rising temperature does alter the present ecosystem and increase the number of newer species. “It is good for some species, but not for others. Therefore, we feel that all the projects should be studied in a combined manner to reach a conclusion,” said Apte, adding that had there been a single project, then an isolated study could have helped.

BNHS also released its interim report on the impact of oil spill, which took place after the collision between two vessels namely MSC Chitra and Khalijia in August 2010.

The report claims that the spill has harmed the mangroves spread over the 1,273.24-hectare area, which is almost 60% of the total mangrove cover in and around Mumbai. It also says that the regeneration process of mangroves has stopped because of the oil cover.

Source: ‘Study of all power plants essential’ - Mumbai - DNA