Nitin Sethi as the Ministry does not en-courage setting up of ther-

NEW DELHI: The National mal power plants and otherGreen Tribunal has .sus- industrial units on primepended the environmental agricultural land. wilfullclearance to NTPC's2400 . Calling it a 'wilful sup-MW Kudgi Super Thermal pression of facts: the tribu-Power Plant thermal power nal ordered the Ministry toproject in Bijapur, Karnata- re-evaluate the case and putka for falsifying information the' existing clearance un-while seeking the mandato- der the Environment Pro-ry green nod. The NTPC ap- tection Acton hold.proached ' the Supreme The tribunal said, "It mayCourt within 24 hours ap- , be concluded that the landpealing against the tribu- in question. is not mostlynal's order. willful barren &: rocky as informed

The project got the clear- by the NTPC to the Unionance from the Environment Environment and ForestsMinistry in January 2012. Ministry, which may be tak-The public sector company en as wilful suppression ofinstead of disclosing that facts." .the plant was located on The NTPC in its submis-prime agricultural land, sions for the green nod had.claimed it was a barren land. told the Ministry that the

This was done to avoid land was mostly barren andadverse decision from the rocky and- only partly agri-environmental authorities cultural. with single crop

plantation. This the tribu-nal said "laid down' thefoundation for considera-tion and grant of the envi-ronmental clearance" andthe Ministry took it as gos-

. pel truth.The lribunal noted that

there were various sets. ofevidence brought out toshow that the land had beenactually well cultivated byfarmers who had severaltube wells in the region forpast 40 years and had beenproducing crops andvegetables.

Ministry getsaway lightly

The Ministry itself gqtaway lightly, with, the tribu-nal only recording that ithad not verified the factsand taken them at face val-ue, but the green quasi-court did not pass any stric-

.tures against thegovernment for doing so."It is clear that the NTPChad not correctly filled inthe above columns andthese have been so reliedupon by the authorities,particularly the MoEFwithout any verification.Besides that, landin excessof the stated requirement isbeing used for the project Inquestion. It, thus, furthershows that it is largely agri-cultural land, which issought to be acquired and isintended to be used for theproject."

The tribunal noted thateven the satellite imagery inthe environment impact as-sessment report submittedto the Ministry and pre-pared' by consultants 'hiredby the NTPC did not sup-port the claims of ,.e;company. . t/./

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/Gaza power plant shut down

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NGT.suspends clearance for Bijapur plantFor wilful suppression of facts by NTPC

NlIPC's Dhauliganga .~qresume generationPithoragarh' (Uuara-'khand): Twounits of

'. NHPC's Dhauliganga"',Jiydi-oelectric project in

Dharchula sub-divisionwill resume power genera-tion from March 31, Power

-f ~fgenerations at the units.f')!had been closed after heavy''',1andslides and rains hit the{l; state in June-last year.

~<; ·····.-··'~~~tlU1rm:f.

GAZA CITY: The Gaza Strip'sonly power plant shut downSaturday due to a lack offuel from Israel, whichclosed a goods crossing af-ter militant rocket attacksthe energy authority said. '

"The plant has complete-Iy ceased to function due toa lack of fuel caused by [Is-rael's] closure of the KeremShalom crossing," saidFathi al-Sheikh Khalil, dep-

uty director of the energyauthority in the Palesti-nian territory ruled by theIslarnist Hamas movement.

On Thursday, Israeli De-fence Minister Moshe Yaa-Ion had ordered the closureof the Kerem Shalomcrossing between Israeland Gaza and the Erez pe-destrian crossing "untilfurther security assess-ments." - AFP 'i

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. ettinahole' ,projeCt· II rated •.r. by ,,'-, Chief' ,Minis er

SidclaritnUuahlastmonth, But Nareshhas no clue about the extent of hisfarm land that will be submerged inthe project. The proposal is to con-struct a reservoir right next to hisproperty, but till now,neither Nareshnor owners of properties in his neigh-bourhood have received any alert oreven a word from the government.

Over the last 'five years, Karihole,Yettinahole and Hongdahalla rivershave come into the C s ofKarnataka Power Co rationKavefiNiravarl Nigam,w 0 avepro-~ectricnygeneration~~espite these proposoornwti-crore pro]eClS,villagers m tile

-seven hamlets around the YPHjnahQIeI!1lllfict hall~ no roa..dsand evenpotablewater facilities.

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We tpo are from thisstate. When the g0vern-ment Is planrilng a drink-

Ing water project for onepart of the state, why shoWcI_from ~ suffet? It,Is not justabout water. If the project startslit these ~ the flOra ,and fauna of the Westem Ghatswi! be In danger. How carl thegcMII11ment go ahead wIth'sucha big project without even.public hearing, .,

KISHORE KUMAR, ADVOCATE

Clty~'geii.e'ratio~~~; ,ect a few 'years ago,' Even tOday;.KPCLboards are found at the projjlct ,site," says Mr Kumar. . -, "

Ecologists fear thiit Hassan andDakShina Kannada districts will see.an increase in man-wildlife conflictsbecause of the project. Already,·farmers in Hassan are facing ele-

" phant and leopard attacks. There arealso reports that elephant herds aremoving towards Sakaleshpur afterthe forest department has startedcapturing elephants in Alur area.

Advocate B.R. Deepak, a member ofthe court-appointed Elephant TaskForce, says that the Task Force hadclearly disapproved of any waterdiversion projects from Hassan andDaksltina Kannada, "In fact the TaskForce had recommended a halt to the.ongoing constructions of mini-hydelprojects. in and aroundSakaleshpur,' he says. .

Social activist and environmental-ist Medha Patkar suggests rejuve-nating Jakes and river canals indrier parts of the state: to avoiddiverting waters form the WesternGhats. "How can the state spendRs 20,000Core on a river diversionproject? Half of that amount canbe successfUlly used to rejuvenatelakes in areas that are seeking waterfrom the Ghats. Any form offresh water source must be main-tained in Its orlglDal form or elsethere is no stoPyiIli of demand for ..water,· sl\!>adds; . .

. . :':. (A.n;.n.ATl/EE MediaFellowship WI Wetland report),

That yettinahole project is fraughtwith danger has been stressed by along list of water experts, whOhave . -weiOOare ft.omthis state.Whenthe·warned .that despite, spending Rs goveriunent Is planning a drinking20,000crore, the project would only water project for 000 part of the state,yield 10 tmcft of water, but still the why shouldwe from Malnad suffer?Itgovernment Is bulldozliig ahead.with is not just 'about watet If,the''project. 'the project. , 'starts at these tributaries, the' flora,What has angered the people of and fauna of the westeni Ghats wlll ,

Malnad and Karavali regions Is the ' be tn dangenHowcan thagovernmentobvious neglect by the state ~".",,8!l ahead jVlth-suCli'lfbtgjlf9}el;r:wt!hi.ment"wh1ch,theysaxfailedtoco~i Otif"'YilJl'iQiUbJfu!~~;"'~~'them before.giving the,green signal to . cate Kishore -Kumar,~whcialso'hOOiisthe project.' Worse,'even the-elected the Ma1nAdJlinapara Horata Samithirepresentatives floomthese ~ bIMl The no objection certljicate givenbyfailed'to raise their voice a8aJDat:tlwf, the Mlliistry of EnvIronment andproject, 'whlch Involves ltlvertfilg. Forests IIi.rol3 too is being questionedwater from the three ml\iOrtributaries by thll,protesters. They ask the min-of Netravathi ' . , Istry has Ignored the submersion of

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Baflga:ore E!ed,;" ty Supply Company Limited(Wholly Owned Ce,;. .ument of Karnataka Undertaking)

. nt NotificationThe tender Notification was published on 05-03-2014 regarding"Execution of Rural Electrification works. District-wise in theJurisdiction of BESCOM on Total Turnkey basis under RGGVY-Scheme under XII plan for Rural Electricity Infrastructure andHousehold Electrification", It was notified that the cOrrespondingbid documents are available from 15-03-2014 16:00 hoursonwards on e-procLirernent portal. Due to 'Technical IAdministrative reasons the uploading of the bid documents ispostponed, The cia rifications regarding this can obtained fromthe office of the Generni f\.'1anager, Projects, 2nd Block, 5thFloor, Corporate Office, BESCOM, Bangalore.

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