The JVM, taking its opposition to the Adani power plant proposed at Godda forward has approached the Union Forest and Environment Ministry along with Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) seeking the clearance processes to be stalled.
The party supremo, Babulal Marandi, in his letter addressed to the Union Minister Anil Madhav Dave has claimed that the proposed 1600 MW power plant would be disastrous for the set environmental norms, including extraction of ground water.
“The public hearing conducted ahead of environmental clearance for the Adani power plant on March 5 at Motia village of Godda was completely fake. Most of the villagers were denied presenting their views before the officials. They were chased away as the administration resorted to lathi charge. I myself went to meet the villagers affected and 80 per cent of them have expressed against the power plant coming over there,” claimed Marandi in his missive.
He has also attached an application signed reportedly by 10,000 villagers of the 40 villages going to be affected by the thermal power plant along with the letter. The application, while citing extraction of ground water by the power producer in order to operate the plant, claims that it would lead to massive water shortage in the area in future and demanded for cancelation of the public hearing conducted.
After the hearing conducted the matter would be sent to the Ministry to secure environmental clearance for the power plant. Another letter from the party MlA Pradeep Yadav addressed to the Secretary in the Ministry and also marked to the JSPCB flagged similar issues and claimed that installation of the plant would lead to distortion of agriculture in the area and massive migration. He, in his memo, has named all the 40 villages of the district carrying signature of the villagers demanding cancelation of the public hearing and getting it conducted afresh.