The Hindu : Karnataka News : Chamalapura power project: all eyes are now on KERC public hearing

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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Karnataka

Chamalapura power project: all eyes are now on KERC public hearing

R. Krishna Kumar

NGOs, including Mysore Grahakara Parishat, have forced KERC to give them a hearing

Tender for selection of consultant has been notified
The 1000-MW power plant is being promoted under public-private partnership

MYSORE: The haste with which the government is going ahead with the proposed coal-fired thermal power plant at Chamalapura near Mysore has raised many an eyebrow for various reasons. However, what is equally strange and incomprehensible to the public is that the project has covered such a distance without as much as a scientific study to ascertain its feasibility.

Also, the authorities have refused to evaluate the environmental impact of such power plants, and the response of Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) to the objections raised against the Gundia hydel power plant in the Western Ghats is only revealing. For, it stated that the “larger issue of valuation of environmental externalities and factoring into societal costs is an area for the government to consider.”

In the case of Chamalapura, the authorities have made clear their intentions as evident in the clarifications to the Request For Quotations. It says that the “tender for selection of consultant for carrying out environment studies and assisting the Power Company of Karnataka Limited in obtaining environment clearances has been notified.” This only means that the outcome of any such environmental studies has been pre-determined and the government will only go through the process of complying with the law of obtaining environmental clearance ignoring its implications, according to non-governmental organisations.

Similarly, the Request For Quotations clarification mentions that the power corporation of Karnataka has made an application to the Union Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Coal for allocation of suitable captive coal block, which underlines the State’s seriousness of going ahead with the project.

What is more, KPCL has even claimed that no cost-benefit analysis is required for power projects. This was obvious in the response furnished by it to the Malenadu Janapara Horata Samithi which had raised objections to the Gundia hydel project.

The samithi and others, including Shankar Sharma, a power sector consultant, had raised objections to the Gundia project on the grounds that no cost-benefit analysis had been conducted by KPCL and without such an analysis, the detailed project report has failed to demonstrate that the proposed project was the best solution to society. However, in its reply to the petition, KPCL has stated that “cost-benefit analysis has not been prescribed for power projects.” Hence, activists opposing the Chamalapura power project are convinced that the government has not conducted any cost-benefit analysis of the coal-fired power project at Chamalapura either and was trying to steamroll public opinion against it.

This has forced even the elected representatives to take note of the jarring discrepancy and C.H. Vijayashankar, MP, has written to K.P. Pandey, Chairman, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Authority, expressing surprise that the Chamalapura project has covered such a distance without so much as an environmental impact assessment or social impact assessment.

People from all walks of life, including litterateurs, environmentalists, technical experts, have questioned the wisdom of establishing a coal-fired power plant near ecological hotspots of Bandipur and Nagarahole which have a rich density of highly endangered species, including tigers and elephants. However, the government has so far ignored all such opposition and has invited tenders from leading private players for the project. The 1000 MW power plant is being promoted by the government under a private-public partnership through Power Company of Karnataka Limited that entails land acquisition to the tune of nearly 2,000 acres. Though the government has claimed that the land to be acquired is barren, the farmers say that they harvest not less than two crops every year. Non-governmental organisations, including the Mysore Grahakara Parishat, recently forced the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) to give them a hearing and pleaded that it advise the government against the project on technical grounds.

The KERC has decided to hold a public hearing at Chamalapura on March 20. Given the objections to the project on technical, environmental and socio-economic grounds, the KERC’s decision will be eagerly awaited.

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