The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded that the government scrap the decision to allow 7 power plants with an estimated 15,000 MW capacity in Srikakulam, including the orders issued in favour of East Coast Energy Pvt Ltd.
In a letter addressed to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, CPI (M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu said the government should review the decision to permit power plants in Srikakulam, Nellore and other districts and convene an all-party meeting to discuss the policy.
ECEPL claim far from truth
There was no truth in the claim made by the East Coast Energy Private Limited (ECEPL) that it commenced work on its super critical thermal energy plant at Kakarapalli in Srikakulam district after receiving all clearances and according to law, the district committee of CPI(M) said here on Thursday.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests instructing ECEPL to stop construction activity saying that it violated the law showed that the claim of the company that the work was being done on the land not fit for agriculture was false, district secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao said.
At Kakarapalli and at Sompeta earlier, the “tampara” or “beela” agriculture land was falsely noted as waste land by the government officials. ECEPL also made a false claim that it had taken up construction activity only on 1,317 acres, while the fact was that construction activity was going on 3,000 acres.
This would lead to submersion of 40,000 acres of agriculture fields. This was the reason why people were opposing the plant. Mr. Narasinga Rao said the Ministry of Environment and Forests should have learnt the lesson after Sompeta and stopped the ECEPL plant by examining the conditions at Kakarapalli on its own. “It is not proper to react and examine the situation after two people were killed in police firing,” Mr. Narasinga Rao said.
