OIPL's Rs 29k-cr power project gets stage-I green nod

A state green panel has given first-stage clearance to Orissa Integrated Power Ltd (OIPL) for diverting 17.02 hectares of revenue forest land to set up a 4,000-Mw Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) in Sundargarh district in Odisha at a cost of Rs 29,000 crore.

According to the proposal, the UMPP requires a total of 1,302.36 hectares, which includes 17.02 hectares of revenue forest land, 1,285 hectares of non-forest land and 1,105.86 hectares of private land.

At a recent meeting of the Bhubaneshwar Regional Empowered Committee (REC), the proposal of the OIPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run Power Finance Corporation of India, was discussed.

According to sources, REC has recommended "stage-I" approval to the proposal with some conditions.

OIPL has been asked to furnish the details of non-forest land as well as private land identified for compensatory afforestation along with Record of Rights (RoR) and non-encroachment certificate from the tehsildar before the issue of stage-II approval, they said.

The company has been asked to raise compensatory afforestation to 27.89 hectares in one compact block considering fragmented nature of the leftout forest of 10.87 hectares.

It has also been asked to furnish revised Forest Rights Act (FRA) certificate for 17.02 hectares before issuance of stage-II approval and submit the status of non-forest land duly authenticated by the competent revenue authority.

The project cost is pegged at Rs 29,000 crore and is estimated to generate over 4,500 jobs in the state.

As per the rule, the state government gives stage-I and II forest clearances to the projects based on REC recommendations.