Kerala - Kochi   

Give green bonus to Kerala: Jairam Ramesh

KOCHI: Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide “green bonus” to Kerala in the form of monetary compensation or extra power in lieu of the shelved Athirapilly hydroelectric project.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramesh said “Kerala should be compensated either monetarily or through the allocation of greater power from the Central pool”.

During his visit to the State early this week, Mr. Ramesh had reiterated his stand against the power project.

He stated that he was not in favour of the Athirapilly project and his opposition was not politically motivated.

He also stated that the project was neither in the interest of Kerala nor the nation.

He argued that the States “which are denied such projects on larger and long-term environmental considerations are entitled to some sort of green bonus”.

“I was in Kerala on June 13 and the Chief Minister raised this issue. I promised him that I would approach you on the matter,” Mr. Ramesh informed the Prime Minister.

Mr. Ramesh said the Kerala government and the Ministry of Environment and Forests were at loggerheads over the 163 Mw Athirapilly project on the Chalakudy river for some time.

“Understandably, the State government wants the project to go ahead, although both within the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front there are some differences of opinion.”

“But there is clear evidence that the project will be ecologically devastating and destroy rich and valuable biodiversity. Having seen the project site myself, I am more than convinced that the project should not be implemented,” he argued.

Mr. Ramesh had earlier described the project as a perfect recipe for ecological disaster. The previous LDF and the UDF governments had campaigned for the project.

A.K. Balan, Power Minister in the previous LDF government, had even accused the Prime Minister's Office of sabotaging the project.

During his Kerala visit, Mr. Ramesh also took care to distance himself from the Pooyamkutty hydroelectric project.

He had also stated that the project, which was shelved earlier, was being revived by the State government and the Central Ministry had nothing to do with its revival.

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