Cuttack, March 11: A writ petition filed in the Orissa High Court has sought judicial intervention against the shifting of a proposed thermal power plant to Sambalpur’s Rairakhol area after signing an MoU for the project at Bhandaripokhari area of Bhadrak district.

The MoU was signed with M/s Visaka Thermal Power Plant for setting up a plant of about 1,100 MW with a proposed investment of Rs 4,810 crore.

The petition has expressed concern that the power project has been proposed to be shifted “to an ecologically balanced dense forest zone of tribal habitat”, which goes against a government decision of not allowing any more power plants to be set up in Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Jharsuguda, Angul and Sundargarh districts on grounds of “large concentration”.

Between June 2006 and February 2009, the state government had signed MoUs for 21 power plants of about 25,970 MW with a proposed investment of Rs 1,07,907.30 crore. MoUs had also been signed for 49 new steel plants of 81.32 MTPA with a proposed investment of Rs 1,98,149.40 crore, three alumina plants and three cement plants.

Advocate Niranjan Tripathy, a member of the Cuttack Bar Association, has in his petition challenged the “legality and validity” of the change in location and sought “an inquiry by vigilance” into the proposal to shift the project.

According to the petition, four companies including M/s Visaka Thermal Power Plant, had submitted proposals to the Orissa government in 2008 to set up power plants in the state. But the government had issued a letter of prohibition advising the applicant companies to find out the location for their respective project sites in places other than the five districts.

“It is requested to consider locating the plant in regions other than Angul, Dhenkanal, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Sundergarh districts where a large concentration of proposed power plant are already there. You may also consider setting up renewable energy-based power projects in the state (wind power, biomass based power, etc),” executive director of Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IPICOL) had replied in a common letter to the four applicant companies including M/s Visaka Thermal Power Plant on April 5, 2008.