Bara, Karchanna and Meja power projects without water clearance
26 Aug, 2013
The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that the power plant projects undertaken by the Jaypee Group and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Allahabad have not acquired clearance from the Central Water Commission.
The information provided by the Central Water Commission in the reply shows that the commission has not granted the No Objection Certificates (NOC) to the three power projects in Bara, Karchanna and Meja in Allahabad. Out of these, the Bara project (3x660 MW) and Karchanna project are being undertaken by the Jaypee Group whereas the Meja project (1320 MW) is a joint venture of the NTPC and UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan.
It is to be mentioned that six blocks of Allahabad falling under the area of the Bara power plant are in semi-critical stage of groundwater level. At the same time, one block of the district falling in the area of Karchanna power plant has its groundwater level in critical stage. In 2012, Jaypee Group’s cement plant in Solan was found to be violating the environmental norms and a fine of Rs.100 crore was imposed on the group by the Himachal Pradesh High Court.