“Is there any problem with the project? Is the power plant not coming up?
The sudden media attention to the under-construction 1,320 Mw thermal power project of Jas Infrastructure and Power Ltd (JSIPL) in Bausi block of Banka district in Bihar has given birth to apprehension among locals, evident in these questions of 28-year-old Janardan Yadav of Syria village.
Although people here are not aware of the nitty-gritty, villagers sense the uncertainty looming over the project following a First Information Report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jas, an Abhijeet Group subsidiary.
| STORY SO FAR Dateline on Mahuagarhi coal block (Jharkhand) |
Source: Government and company |
“People are saying there are some allegations of wrongdoing by the promoters,” says Prasad Kumar of Kalyanpur village. About 250 families, his being one, in the neighbouring villages have given 785 acres for the project. They have many grievances, such as how they were cheated of the actual land prices because of middlemen and the company's promise of ITI (Industrial Training Institute) training for local youths not fulfilled. Still, they want the project to happen -- people here are now entirely dependent on the proposed power plant for their livelihood, as most of them work as unskilled labourers in the plant.
About 200 labourers and 120 engineers are currently on the project. One of the engineers says about 25 per cent of the work is complete. “Although it might miss the October 2014 deadline for the commission of both the units, the delay should not be more than six to eight months. Also, there needs to be infrastructure development, as the conditions of roads both here and in Rajmahal (where the company has its coal block) is too bad,” he said. “But, first let's see what happens to the coal linkage after the CBI investigation.”
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The coal block in question is about 90 km from the power plant, in neighbouring Jharkhand. Jas Infra, a subsidiary company of the Nagpur-based Abhijeet Infrastructure, won the mining rights along with CESC, the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group flagship firm, to the Mahuagarhi coal block at Rajmahal (in Jharkhand) in January 2008. The FIR filed by CBI mentions the Jas Infra promoters – Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, Abhishek Jayaswal and Anand Jayaswal. There are allegations that the group hid the facts that it had previously been in coal blocks and had not done any mining in those as well. There are also charges against the company of inflating its net worth.
Also, the fact that Congress MP Vijay Darda and his son, Devendra, have a two per cent stake in Abhijeet Infra has fuelled reports of manipulation of political links in the alleged wrongdoing. Prior to this, the coal ministry had slapped a showcause notice in May, along with those on 27 other companies, for failiure to meet the allotment conditions. According to the rules, the company has to start production from blocks within three years if coal is to be extracted through open-cast mining. If the block allotted is on forest land, the open-cast mine has to be developed within 42 months.
After allocations of coal blocks in 2008, it was Mahuagarhi Coal Block Pvt Ltd (the joint venture between Jas Infra and CESC, formed for development and mining of the block) which had initially complained about the delay on the part of the government in issuance of a prospecting licence.
“Since it was an unexplored mine, we, the company, had to apply for a prospecting licence. The application was made within three months of allocations. The state government (Jharkhand) made a recommendation for the same only in January 2009. And, finally, in April 2010, the company was granted the licence,” an official close to the development said. The coal block is yet to start production, as the exploration work is still on.
Though Jas Infra has not officially blamed the government for non-production at the coal block, it has issued a statement that allegations made in the FIR were misconceived and misplaced. “The development of the block and end-use power plant is being constantly monitored by the coal ministry, Central Electricity Authority and Coal Controller and regular reports are being submitted to these authorities,” the company said.
Official tight lip
The state government has also put itself in a wait and watch mode about the end-use project. Only a month before all these revelations tumbled out about alleged irregularities, Bihar’s deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, held a press conference about satisfactory progress of the project, a private power plant in his state. According to him, JSIPL had invested Rs 2,077 crore out of an estimated Rs 14,764 crore. Modi, Health Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh even visited the spot to inspect the progress prior to his media statement.
The state has refused to comment. Officials said the government would comment only after preliminary enquiries. This means the villagers in Bausi have an unnerving wait ahead to know both the fate of the plant and their own future.
This is the second instalment of a four-part series