In what could be a blow to the 4,000-mw Chhattisgarh Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Sarguja, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has refused the green nod to the plant as it lies in the densely forested Hasdeo-Arand region of the state.
Ironically, Ramesh recently approved two mining proposals ? one by Iffco and the other by the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RVUNL) ? on the fringes of the Hasdeo-Arand forest region and even overruled the Forest Advisory Committee?s recommendation of rejecting the proposals. He also cleared another UMPP in Orissa along with two other power projects in the state after putting up stiff resistance to their clearance initially.
?The Chhattisgarh UMPP will not be cleared because it is in the middle of the Hasdeo-Arand coalfield, which is a dense forest. Moreover, the state government is also not keen on getting it cleared,? Ramesh told FE.
Ramesh clarified that the approval to the Iffco and RVUNL should not be seen as the opening of floodgates for mining in the biodiversity rich forest regions such as Hasdeo-Arand.
The decision means that the UMPP may have to be scrapped in the present form. With no alternate plans in the works and the Chhattisgarh government having its hands full in implementing over dozen other power projects, the revival of the project also looks unlikely, said another government source.
?The government has already started talks to find alternate coal linkages from the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh coalfields or the Mand-Raigarh coalfields for the UMPP. This, however, may need the existing project to be scrapped and a new project started at an alternate location,? said the source.
On Wednesday, Ramesh cleared the Bedabahal UMPP in Orissa and changed his original decision of clearing only one power plant in Orissa instead of all three. He cleared all the three projects in the area ? the 4,000-mw Orissa UMPP, 1,320-mw Orissa Power Generation Corporation and NTPC?s 1,600-mw plant. The projects comprise six coal blocks, of which five were in the no-go region where mining is not allowed as they have over 30% gross forest cover or over 10% weighted forest cover.
With the clearances for all these projects, it was widely anticipated that the Chhattisgarh UMPP may also be given the green nod.
The initial bids (RFQ) for the Chhattisgarh UMPP began in March last year. However, ever since then the last date for submitting RFQ documents has been extended six times as Pindarakhi and Puta Parogia coal blocks that were allocated to the project by the coal ministry in 2009 fall in Hasdeo Arand coal belt.This belt has been declared a no-go area for mining by the environment ministry and Ramesh has remained firm that area should not be disturbed by any industrial activity.
Government has so far bid out only four out of nine UMPPs conceived earlier. In fact, none of the UMPPs could be awarded in 2010-11.