OneWorld.net (U.S.)

A Bench comprising Chief Justice V.K. Bali and Justice Siri Jagan of the Kerala High Court has rejected the MoEF’s clearance to the Athirapilly Project across the Chalakudy river. Clearance was rejected on the grounds that no public hearing had been conducted after the WAPCOS’ Environment Impact Assessment. The Kerela High Court has demanded that the Kerala State Electricity Board conduct a public hearing within the next two months after publishing the KSEB’s EIA and has permitted Athirappilly grama panchayat to file writ petitions.

The Athirapplly project is seventh project planned, to produce a meager 163 MW of energy, across the Chalakudy river, upstream the Vazhachal rapids and downstream of the Poringalkuthu powerhouse in the state’s Thrissur district. In 2001, when authorities proposed the project for the first time, it was rejected on environmental grounds.

The Chalakudy Phuza Samarakshana Samithi had approached the High Court in 2001, challenging the Environment Impact Assessment carried out by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI) in 1996. In 2002, there was a widespread protest at the public hearing for the project conducted by the Kerela State Pollution Control Board. The project was halted. Now, the second time round, the project has been granted environment clearance based on a born-again EIA, without any public hearing. Now, it is the Haryana-based Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS), accused of skirting around the real displacement and destruction details. SOURCE: Sanctuary Asia