The environment impact assessment authority of Gujarat has told the National Green Tribunal that the OPG Power Gujarat Pvt Ltd is violating the conditions on which the environment clearance was given to it for its 300 MW thermal power plant at Mundra.
The Gujarat State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), in its report to the Tribunal, has said the OPG has begun construction work on the project even before the grant of forest clearance and Coastal Regulation Zone clearance.
"If this power plant is allowed to come up, the local fishermen would be deprived of their livelihood," said the report adding that the alleged encroachment of the land by the company near its project site at Bhadreshwar village in Mundra should be probed.
The authority's report came on an order by the Tribunal to it to visit the project site and file a report on the alleged violation of environmental norms by OPG.
A bench of Tribunal headed by its Acting Chairperson A Suryanrayan Naidu had passed the order on a plea by the project-hit Gujarat natives through advocate Rahul Chaudhary.
The committee has recommended that "the government of Gujarat may probe the alleged encroachment of land on Khari river side to determine the boundaries of the project site".
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The committee, which visited the site on April 10, said "the company has already started construction work prior to grant of CRZ clearance. Even though the forest clearance has not been granted so far, construction work was going on till a day before the visit of the committee. The company has stopped construction activity only from yesterday i.E. April 9, 2012".
"The company is violating conditions of the environmental clearance order dated June 11, 2010 by continuing construction work," it added.
The firm had earlier asserted that it has not violated any conditions for the grant of environmental clearance.
The SEIAA said in its report that even while no work has been started by OPG on the forest land or the CRZ area but the continuance of construction work at other sites of the project was in violation of the conditions on which the environment clearance was granted to OPG on June 11, 2010.
The conditions for the clearance stipulated that OPG shall not start construction activities without environmental clearance as well as "all requisite prior permissions".
"Necessary permissions from different departments / agencies under different laws / acts shall be obtained before commencing the construction and / or pipeline lying activities related to the project," one of the condition had stated.
The report stated that it was "feared" if company is allowed to lay pipelines for sea water use, "the fishermen residing near the coast will be deprived of their livelihood".
The NGT had earlier made it clear that any construction made contrary to the environmental norms "shall be at the risk of the project proponent".
The orders had came on a plea alleging violation of the February 8 order of the Tribunal and seeking direction for "immediate stoppage of the construction work related to 300 (2x150) MW thermal power plant at village Bhadreshwar, Mundra, District Kutch, Gujarat taken up by OPG Power Gujarat".
The petitioner, Husain Saleh Mahmad Usman Bhai Kara, a Gujarat native, had stated in his petition that the Tribunal had on February 8, "specifically mentioned" that OPG "shall not start any construction / project enabling activities unless and until environmental clearances as well as all requisite permissions / clearances are obtained".
The construction work on the project has been continuing in "blatant violation" of the orders of the tribunal, the petitioner had stated. The tribunal on February 8, had passed the order on a bunch of petitions by fishermen, salt pan worker and local residents who had assailed the environmental clearance granted to the OPG by the Gujarat State Impact Assessment Authority on June 11, 2010 for setting up the plant.