The Hindu Business Line : Damodar Valley Corpn's Bengal, Jharkhand power plant proposals hit snag

DAMODAR Valley Corporation's (DVC) plans for setting up two mega thermal power plants of 1,000 MW each at Durgapur in West Bengal and Kodarma in Jharkhand have been hit.

In Durgapur, despite all support from the State Government, the DVC has so far failed to secure environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Regarding Kodarma, the corporation has obtained all mandatory clearances including the environmental clearance from the Centre but the assurance of providing the requisite land and water from the Jharkhand Government is yet to materialise.

Sources in DVC said while the 2 X 500 MW Kodarma project was on the priority list of the corporation, the State Government has paid little attention to providing land so far. The project, which has a provision of 500-MW expansion in second phase, was scheduled to be commissioned by 2008-09 on 2,294 acres of land near Benjhidih village in Kodarma district.

According to sources, the Jharkhand Government insists that DVC should make an advance payment of roughly Rs 25-30 crore which is 80 per cent of the total land value before the State Government takes steps to acquire the identified land. DVC authorities cite earlier examples when they had made such upfront payments but are yet to be provided with the requisite land.

"Earlier, we had asked for land for our transmission projects near Dhanbad, Ramgarh, Gola and a few other places with upfront payment of 80 per cent of the land value. The State Government had neither provided the land nor have they refunded the payment already made," a DVC official said.

"We are now trying to convince the State Government to provide the land (for Kodarma project) first."

Meanwhile, assistance from the West Bengal Government has made DVC hopeful of getting MoEF clearance for the Durgapur project. Turned down twice by the Centre for higher projected environmental impact than the permissible limit, the State Government recently declared the project site an industrial area, which has higher benchmarks for pollution.

"There has been certain positive developments during this week and we are very hopeful that the project may finally get the clearance," the official.

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