HC puts on hold NCCs power dreams in Sompet

HYDERABAD: In a major victory for fishermen and farmers, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday suspended a Government Order allotting 972 acres to the Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC) at Sompet in Srikakulam district for the construction of a 2,600-MW coal-based thermal power station. Justice Nooty Ram Mohan Rao issued interim orders to this effect on a writ petition filed by Kamesh and two other locals of Sompet.The petitioners submitted that the land allotted to the NCC was a swamp and pointed out that the State Irrigation Development Corporation had commissioned three schemes in about 750 acres on the same land.The Paryavarana Parirakshana Samiti (PSS), which is spearheading the agitation against the proposed plant, expressed happiness but refused to lower its guard.Speaking to Express, PSS president Y Krishna Murthy said, “I am very happy to hear that the High Court has suspended the operation of the GO. Now the NCC has no right over the land. We will continue our legal battle till the GO is cancelled.” As the news broke out, fishermen and farmers in Sompet mandal took out rallies in celebration.Opposition to the power plant had turned into an open confrontation between the police and the locals near Beela wetlands on July 14 last year. Two protestors, Gunna Joga Rao and G Krishna Murthy, had died on the spot while a third protestor B Krishna Murthy succumbed to bullet wounds four months later.The government had issued the GO allotting land to the NCC in 2008. Several NGOs had then opposed the move, contending that a power plant on the wetlands would be violative of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. In December 2009, the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment, however, granted clearance for the project prompting the PSS to move the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA). The PSS charged the state government with giving a distorted picture of the ground reality to obtain the green signal from the Centre. The NEAA accepted its arguments and set aside the clearance. The PSS also launched a legal battle which culminated in the stay orders of Thursday.“We demand that the government, on its own, cancel the GO or we will continue our battle since our livelihood is at stake,” Krishna Murthy said. Close to 1.5 lakh people depend on Beela for their livelihood.