Petition against RInfra's Maha project rejected

RInfra, which is developing a 4,000 Mw power plant at Shahpur village in the Raigad district, has received a shot in the arm with the National Environmental Appellate Authority (NEAA) rejecting a petition filed by some of the affected villagers challenging the environmental clearance to the project.

The thermal plant consists of a 2,800-Mw gas-based plant and a 1,200-Mw coal-based plant. The project is being implemented through Reliance Power’s wholly owned subsidiary Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd (MEGL).

The Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti (SSS), consisting of farmers from Shahpur and nearby villages, had challenged the environmental clearances granted by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MEF) of the Government of India.

The petition filed by the SSS claimed that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) prepared by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the basis for granting the MPCB and MEF clearances, did not follow the MEF guidelines and deliberately provided misleading and inadequate data.

The petition also claimed that the land on which RInfra proposed to set up the plant fell under the Green Zone II category and hence no industrial activity could be undertaken on the land. Besides, the project also violated the provisions of the proposed Coastal Management Zone (CMZ).

However, rejecting the SSS petition, the NEAA pointed out that the EIA prepared by two other independent agencies — National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and L&T Rambol — also confirmed the findings of NEERI.

The NEAA judgment also observed that the proposed construction activity at the site did not violate the conditions put under the CRZ III category. Besides, the state government had already initiated the process to change the zone from Green Zone II to industrial, and also put reasonable restrictions on RInfra while allowing the construction of the power plant.

However, the RInfra project is yet to clear one more legal hurdle. The petition filed by the SSS challenging the land acquisition is still pending in the Bombay High Court.