Chhattisgarh pollution panel moves court against GMR Energy

RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) has moved a local court against top executives of GMR Energy Limited for allegedly starting the construction work for a thermal power plant without getting the mandatory environment clearances, an official said Thursday.

GMR Energy is setting up two units of 685 MW each with supercritical technology at Raikheda village, about 30 km from here. The project is estimated to cost Rs.8,000 crore.

“A CECB team had visited the upcoming power plant site of the GMR Energy recently and found during inspection that the company had been engaged in some construction works in the proposed area without getting environmental approval. Based on the report, we filed a petition Oct 29 in chief judicial magistrate’s (CJM) court in Raipur,” CECB regional officer R. K. Sharma said.

“In the petition, the CECB had pleaded to register an offence against GMR Energy chairman B.V. Nageswara Rao and vice president Anil Kumar Jain for violating environment norms,” he added.

The company, however, refused to comment on the issue.

“We are not aware of any petition being filed, nor we have received any intimation of any kind in this regard. Hence it is not company policy to comment on news which is speculative in nature” Vaibhav Tiwari, general manager (corporate communications), told IANS in an e-mail.