SUNDAY, 10 JUNE 2012
21:41
PNS | SAMBALPUR
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Water Initiatives Odisha has flayed the decision of the State
Environment and Forest department to give nod to two coal-fired power plants in
the two hottest places of Balangir and Subarnapur districts.
In a letter to the State Environment
and Forest Minister, the forum convener Ranjan Panda said while the State
Government has been boasting of its green initiatives on the World Environment
Day, it has cared little while giving nod
to Sahara Thermal Power Plant at
Titilagarh in Balangir and at Pitamahul in Subarnapur district.
“Perhaps you know it that thermal
power plants are the highest Green House Gas (GHG) emitters and increase the
local temperature in an area. These environmentally destructive plants
are also water guzzlers and highly polluting. Despite knowing all that
when your Ministry plans to go ahead with such plants in Titilagarh and
Pitamahul, known as two hottest places in the State, don’t you think you are
fuelling further heat?” Panda asked.
Panda further said that the Climate
Change Action Plan of the Odisha Government recognises the fact that coal-fired
power plants emit 68 per cent of all GHG of the State. It also recognises
the fact that a large chunk of the State’s land is facing degradation and water
erosion.
“However, the State Government
proposes to generate 60,000 MW of thermal power in the coming decade emitting
about 300 million tonne carbon per year. Most of these plants are coming
up in areas already suffering widespread land degradation and water scarcity,”
he rued.
The Environment Impact Assessment
(EIA) report of the Sahara Thermal Power Plant says it will draw water from Tel
river even as it does not show a water availability analysis of the river. Tel
is a water starving river already. Similarly, Pitamahul of Subarnapur
where already a public hearing has been conducted for a coal-fired power plant
is another dry area. The plant proposes to draw water from Mahanadi which is
already stressed due to the dependence of a large number of plants, he said.
Stating that the two plants are going
to increase the heat in the two hottest places further, pollute the areas like
anything and have adverse impact on land, water and forest, Panda said pushing
through these plants is nothing but a mockery of the Climate Change Action
Plan.
Panda further said while the National
Green Tribunal has ordered that all proposed coal fired power plants must do a
‘radiation impact assessment’ along with the ‘environmental impact assessment’;
no such assessments have been made in case of the two power plants.
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