The expert appraisal committee on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects, which is to decide on the fate of several power projects, including the Athirappilly project, has been reconstituted.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests reconstituted the committee on Monday with Rakesh Nath of New Delhi as its head. The panel will have 13 members and S. Bhowmik, scientist of the Ministry, will be its member secretary.
The committee will scrutinise all proposals relating to river valley and hydroelectric projects for prescribing terms of reference for undertaking detailed Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study. It will also look into the EIA reports of river valley and hydroelectric projects and environmental management plan prepared and submitted by the project authorities and recommend clearance or rejection of projects from environment angle. The suggestion of adequate safeguards to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts is also one of the mandates of the committee, according to a communication from the Ministry.
Biodiversity
The previous committee had reserved its decision on the Athirappilly project “till the Kerala State Electricity Board/Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute substantiate their claim that there will be no change in the biodiversity pattern from the published reports, including recent study undertaken by the Kerala Forest Research Institute.”
Apprehensions
While the environmentalists plan to approach the new committee with their case regarding the Athirappilly project, the Electricity Board authorities maintained that the earlier committee had decided the case in their favour and there was no need for re-presenting the case.
According to Rajeev Sadanandan, chairman of the KSEB, there was no need for the Board to re-present its case before the new panel as the earlier one had ruled in its favour. The earlier panel suggested studies on biodiversity aspects, while deciding in favour of the Board, as it felt that the biodiversity of the area may change with the passing of the years, he said. However, the fate of the project will be decided by courts as a case was pending before the High Court of Kerala, he said.
At the same time, A. Lata of the River Research Centre, which is spearheading the campaign against the proposal to build the 163-MW dam on the Chalakudy River, said that they would highlight the issues regarding the project before the new panel too.
It may not be required to present the whole case once again as the earlier submissions of the research centre would be available before it. However, the stand of the environmentalists would be made known to the new panel, she said.
