With the three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan rejecting Anil Ambani group firm, RNRL?s plea for cheaper gas from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on the basis of a family pact, the fate of the ambitious Rs-10,000, 7800-mw Dadri gas-based power project in Uttar Pradesh appears to have been sealed. The gas was sought by RNRL to fire its proposed 7,800-mw power plant in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh.
The fate of the project had been uncertain right from the day of its inception in 2004. It had suffered a major setback in December last year, when the Allahabad High Court had cancelled the land allotted to Reliance Power for setting up the world?s largest gas-based power plant at Dadri in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, The court had also stated that the farmers could either reclaim the land by returning the compensation or the company could acquire land afresh for the project after seeking the consent of farmers. Currently, a large number of farmers are making arrangement for the money that they got as compensation in order to get back their land. Speaking to FE on the condition of anonymity, a state government official said the project is ?as good as dead. First, the HC cancelled the land allotted to Reliance Power and now the SC has decided against Anil Ambani. While the apex court has given the warring groups six weeks? time to rework a gas supply agreement in conformity with the government policy, one does not see the project heading anywhere,? he stated.
However, welcoming the SC verdict, Shailendra Dubey, secretary-general, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), said the Anil Ambani group has lost all the rights to develop the project, since almost six years have elapsed since the Mulayam Singh Yadav government signed the agreement with Anil Ambani group in 2004. ?Almost 2500 acre of land was allotted to them, out of which 900 acre was government land and the rest was acquired from the farmers under the an emergency clause.
However, despite the availability of prime land in NCR, which was in excess than the need to build the plant and inspite of the family MoU worked out in June 2005 as part of the division of the Reliance business empire ?through which it was supposed to get gas for the project at $2.34 per mmBtu?the group has done nothing except constructing a boundary wall at the site in the last six years. The state government should cancel the MoU and hand over the project to the state sector.