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Rediff.com  » Business » Ecology board accuses GMR Energy of legal breach

Ecology board accuses GMR Energy of legal breach

By R Krishna Das & Mahesh Kulkarni
November 12, 2010 12:46 IST
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The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) has moved court against top executives of GMR Energy Ltd for allegedly starting construction on a 1,370-Mw thermal power unit without permission. The location is Raikheda village near Tilda, about 30 km from the state capital.

On October 29, CECB had filed a petition before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Raipur, following a complaint against the company for starting civil work before getting environment clearances.

CECB regional officer R K Sharma said: "A team from the board visited the spot." The Board has asked the court to register offences against GMR Energy's chairman, B V Nageswara Rao, and vice president, Anil Jain.

Raaj Kumar, chief executive officer, GMR Energy, said, "We have started construction of the boundary wall around the site acquired for the power plant. We are waiting for the (Union) environment ministry to give us the clearance to start work on the project." He denied any construction on the plant site ahead of environment clearances.

He said clearance from the ministry would happen only after the company secured coal linkages for the power project. "Once that happens, the environment ministry will give its approval," he told Business Standard. He declined to comment on the court case.

Vaibhav Tiwari, general manager (corporate communications), GMR Group, said: "We are not aware of any petition filed and, hence, it is not in the company's policy to comment on news which is speculative in nature."

GMR Energy had acquired 850 acres of land - 422 acres from the state government and 428 acres from private landowners - for the project and spent Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) to acquire the land. It had completed the public hearings on the project and filed the proceedings with the ministry in January.

It has three operating assets with cumulative capacity of 808 Mw and 11 projects in hand totalling 8,448 Mw, of which 4,138 Mw is under construction and 4,310 Mw under development. The recently relocated 220-Mw barge-mounted power plant to Kakinada from Mangalore commenced combined-cycle operations in August.

During 2011-12, the company expects to commission the 768-Mw Vemagiri expansion project, for which it is seeking gas allocation from the central government. During the second quarter ended September, the energy business of GMR contributed revenue of Rs 494.2 crore (Rs 49.4 billion), a drop of 8.4 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

 

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R Krishna Das & Mahesh Kulkarni in Raipur, Bangalore
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