UP at loggerheads with Centre again over Singrauli power plants

Anil Yadav | Lucknow

The state government and the Union Environment Ministry are at loggerheads again as the Centre has stalled four power projects of 5300 mega watts at Singrauli on the ground that “they would damage the environment of the area”.

The Mayawati government has reacted sharply to the Centre’s action, accusing Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh of trying to derail Uttar Pradesh’s efforts to become ‘power surplus’ state. UP has set a target to generate over 25,000 MW electricity by the year 2014. At present the state generates only 3500 MW power.

A study being carried out by the Centre at Singrauli in Sonebhadra district has warned that these power plants could cause irreparable damage to the environment of the area. The study is likely to be completed by August.

Accepting the preliminary findings of the study, the Union Environment Ministry said in its order: “No power plant should come up in the notified (Singrauli) area till the Central team completes its study on environmental hazards these power plants and other industries in area could pose.”

The Union Environment Ministry has already identified Singrauli among the top five most polluted industrial areas of the country. The main pollutant in the area is fly ash emanating from the existing thermal power plants.

The Centre’s decision has short-circuited UP’s attempt to set up a 1,980 MW thermal power project at Dopaha in Sonebhadra, two projects of 1,320 MW capacity each at Obra and Anpara, and an additional 660 MW unit at Anpara that is to be set up by a private player, Lanco.

The proposed power projects at Obra and Anpra are being set up by state-run Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (RVUN) while rest are to come up under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

“With detailed project reports (DPRs) being submitted for all the four projects, we had already started the bidding process for thee 1,980 MW project at Dopaha, as it is on the state government’s priority list,” a senior officer of UP Power Corporation Limited said.

Energy Secretary and UPPCL Chairman Navneet Sehgal says the grounds for denying environmental clearance for the Dopaha project are hardly justified. In a letter written to the Union Environment Ministry, he has pointed out that Dopaha is 30 kilometre away from Singrauli, the area where the Central team has carried out its environmental study.

In the letter, the Energy Secretary says, “In view of acute shortfall of power in UP, the Central authorities should reconsider their decision and should give clearance for the Dopaha project.”

Staate Energy Minister Ramveer Upadhyay said that wiithholding clearance for the project by the Union ministry had thwarted the state’s efforts to achieve self-reliance in power. The minister said he had already raised this issue with the Central authorities.

The Mayawati government is consistently trying to convince the power consumers of the state that the frequent outages and the existing power crisis is due to the Centre’s bias against UP.

It is the second time that the Bahujan Samaj Party government and the Union Environment Ministry have locked horns over environmental issue. The Union Environment Ministry had earlier stalled construction work at Mayawati’s pet project in Noida where statues of Dalit icons were being installed. The Union ministry claimed that over 6000 trees were felled to construct alit memorial. The issue is pending in court.