Cuttack, June 25: Orissa High Court has set a 10-day deadline for the state government to file a reply on the PIL challenging acquisition of 389 acres of forest land, including reserved forest, for a power plant project at Rahangola under Athagarh tehsil of Cuttack district.
Narendra Kumar Mohapatra, 53, secretary of Chandesh Krushak Surakhya Sangha, along with three other residents of the area, had filed the PIL seeking restoration of the 389 acres of forest land under the occupation of KVK Nilachal Power.
KVK Nilachal Power proposes to set up a coal-based power project in two phases. In the first phase, they plan to set up a plant of 250MW. In the second phase, they plan to set up power plant for the capacity of another 1,050 MW. The total land requirement for the power plant project is 984 acres.
The petition had alleged that “administrative authorities had allowed the company to carry its project work in the area covering forest land, including reserve forest of 389 acres”, and “clearance of trees from the area was under process in violation of the Forest Conservation Act”.
Acting on it, the high court had issued notices to the state government on April 11. But when the case came up for hearing on Thursday, it was found that no responses had been filed. The state counsel sought time to file the response. “The division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopal Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra allowed 10 days’ time to the state government to file the reply. The central government counsel and counsel for KVK Nilachal Power were also allowed to file their respective replies within the same time,” petitioner counsel Trilochan Barik told The Telegraph today.
The petitioner had alleged that the acquisition of forest land, including reserve forest, for the power project posed threat to the habitat of animals and natural streams.
According to the petition, KVK Nilachal Power had sought administrative approval for acquisition of 541.381 acres of private land under Athagarh tehsil. Subsequently, the state government had issued a notification on December 12, 2008, for acquisition of land in four villages.
But statutory directives were not adhered to while issuing resolution for publication of notices to acquire 540.961 acres in Rahangola (254.821 acres), Kandarai (114.440 acres), Dalua (65.930) and Khanduali,(107.770 acres) villages.
