Lanco Power served notice over violation of forest laws

Lanco Babandh Power Ltd, an independent power producer (IPP), which is setting up a 1320 MW (2x660) power plant at Khadagprasad in Dhenkanal district is in the dock for violation of forest laws.

This follows recent row over violation of forest laws by Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) in the neighbouring Angul district.

The divisional forest officer of Dhenkanal forest division, S K Dalai has slapped a show cause notice on Lanco Babandh Power for violation of para 4.4 of Forest Conservation (FC) Act. The notice, which was issued on Monday, has asked the power company to reply within a fortnight.

When contacted, a Lanco official confirmed receiving the show cause saying that they would submit the reply as per rules.

The para 4.4 of FC Act stipulates that industries cannot take up any construction activity even on non-forest land without prior forest clearance from the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF).