IFFCO-CSPGCL Thermal Power Project
{{#Badges:CoalSwarm|navbar-Indiacoal}}The IFFCO-CSPGCL Thermal Power Project (also known as Surajpur Supercritical Thermal Power Project or Chandan Nagar power station) is a 1320-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station which has been proposed by a joint venture between Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL) and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO).
Contents
Location
The map below shows the approximate location of the project.
Background
IFFCO Chhattisgarh Power Limited is a joint venture of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company (CSPGC. IFFCO has a 74% stake and CSPGC 26%. The company states that coal would be sourced from a "captive coal mine at Tara block" and that the power station would have "zero pollution".[1]
One report states that the project has been proposed to be built at Chandan Nagar, Sarguja district, Chhattisgarh, India. It was also reported that the plant would require 870 hecatres of land.[2]
A July 2011 report on IFFCO's plans to float a company on the stock market to develop the project referred to the plant as being a 1320MW project and that it has received environmental clearances,[3] which was granted March 16, 2012.[4]
The plant was originally proposed to be located in Premnagar, Sarguja district and comprise two 660MW units.[5]
According to Down to Earth, the power station would involve coal from three coal blocks, which the Chhattisgarh government and IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative Limited) decided to take over on June 4, 2005. The coal blocks include the allotment of Tara Coal Block to IFFCO, and the allotment of the Parsa East and Kente Basan Coal Blocks to the Rajasthan State, which would then contract the Adani Group to mine the coal. The land required for the project site was 728.41 hectare spread over five villages (Premnagar, Chandanagar, Namna, Raghunathpur and Abhaypur), affecting 1386 families.[6]
In March 2010 the people of Premnagar were notified by the India government that their legal status as a village had changed, taking away their legal protections as a tribe and paving the way for the power station.[6]
On June 23, 2011, the Minister for Environment and Forests agreed to grant Stage-I approval to Chhattisgarh State for the three coal blocks (Tara, Parsa East, and Kante Basen) in Surguja District.[6]
As of August 2014, the project continues to be listed on the CSPGCL website with completion date listed as "2013"; however, there is no evidence that the project is actually being actively pursued, and the status appears to be on hold.[7]
According to a project summary in India Infra Monitor, the project has been moved to Salka village, Surajpur taluk, Surguja district. The summary states, "The project is delayed due to delay in getting Unit II clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for development of Tara Captive Coal Block. Unit I of the project is expected to commission in November 2016 while Unit II is expected to commission in April 2017."[8]
A feasibility study for the project at Salka was submitted in May 2014, and listed construction as taking 4-5 years. It lists the coal supply as the Tara Captive Coal Block.[9]
As of May 2018 there have been no further developments, and the project appears shelved.
March 2014: National Green Tribunal halts forest clearance for Parsa East and Kate-Basan
In March 2014 the National Green Tribunal set aside the forest clearance for the captive coal blocks in Parsa East and Kante-Basan that were to supply the plant. Prior to the NGT decision, Forestry Advisory Committee (FAC) had three times declined to recommend the proposal, and each time the environment minister had over-ruled the committee and recommended clearance. The NGT bench said "the Minister acted arbitrarily and rejected the FAC's advice for reasons having no basis either in any authoritative study or experience in the relevant fields. In short the reasons adduced by the Minister fail to outweigh the advice rendered by the FAC."
As a result of the decision, the proposal was returned to the Forest Advisory Committee for fresh consideration.[10]
Opposition
According to an article by ethnobotanist Madhu Ramnath in Down to Earth, there has been a long history of opposition to coal development in the forested areas of Sarguja district:[6]
- Since 2004, up to 13 petitions had been sent by the people to the Governor through the Collector and the Tahsildar explaining why they did not want the power plant in their area; only in 2008, when some of the Gram Sabha members personally went to meet the Governor, Mr E. S.L Narasiman, did they realize that none of the earlier petitions had reached his office! During these years there were up to than a dozen attempts by the Collector and the administration to pressurize the Gram Sabhas of the affected villages to agree to the setting up of the power plant. In 2006-07, Namna village, under much political pressure, consented; in 2008 Raghunathpur, a village with a mixed population, gave its succumbed. In the Gram Sabha meetings held after Narasiman’s intervention the Collector was present to oversee the village meetings; apart from Namna and Raghunathpur all other villages refused to entertain the idea of the power plant. On 19 January 2009 the Navbharath Times reported that the government had retreated from Prem Nagar and was planning to go to Salka, Murgaon and Narayanpur, some kilometres east of the earlier site. Local sources narrate how Salka, where there would be a power plant, was besieged by officials and the police for 3 days before the Gram Sabha was conducted; no news persons or outsiders were able to enter the village and the agenda for discussion was set by IFFCO. Around this time several political parties too joined in the opposition of the plant and in these new areas and intervention by MSS was less than before.
Project Details
Sponsor: IFFCO Chhattisgarh Power
Parent: Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited
Location: Salka village, Surajpur taluk, Surguja district, Chhattisgarh, India
Coordinates: 22.920278, 82.776944 (approximate)
Status: Cancelled
Capacity: 1320 MW (Units 1&2: 660 MW)
Type: Supercritical
Projected in service:
Coal Type:
Coal Source: Tara Central coal block
Estimated annual CO2: 7,806,085 tons
Source of financing:
MoEF permits: "Environmental Clearance," India MoEF, Mar 16, 2012
Resources and articles
References
- ↑ IFFCO Chhattisgarh Power, "IFFCO Chhattisgarh Power Limited (ICPL)", Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative website, accessed February 2012.
- ↑ "IFFCO Chhattisgarh Power to set up 2 x 500MW thermal power station at Chandan Nagar", Thermal Power news, undated, accessed March 2012.
- ↑ "Iffco plans IPO for Chhattisgarh power project", Business Standard, July 07, 2011.
- ↑ "Environmental Clearance," India MoEF, Mar 16, 2012.
- ↑ Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company, "Future Power Projects", Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company, October 2010.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Madhu Ramnath, "Coal Country Politics in Surguja, Chhattisgarh: people forsaken by the fine," Down to Earth, March 14, 2013.
- ↑ "Future Projects," Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company, accessed August 2014
- ↑ "1,320 MW Surajpur Supercritical Thermal Power Project," India Infra Monitor, accessed August 2014
- ↑ "Feasibility report," Tata Power, May 2014
- ↑ Jayashree Nandi, "National Green Tribunal reserves forest clearance given to Parsa East and Kante-Basan coal blocks," Times of India, March 24, 2014
