After creating much controversy, the Cheemeni Gas plant has finally been removed from the Emerging Kerala website. The hands of real estate mafia was suspected in the project which is planned to be built on 2000-acre plot, though a study report had shown that the project requires only 200 acre of land.
According to the project details earlier available online, the government has offered 1,621 acres of land for the project. However, the documents of land transfer in the panchayat show that steps were taken to acquire 2,000 acres of land at Kayyoor Cheemeni Grama Panchayat. During the Pollution Control Board’s inspection at the site on 15 June 2011, people raised suspicion over the project as the plant may need only 200 acres of land, according to an early study. The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) in a reply letter dated on 23 June 2011 informed that the remaining land will be utilised for subsidiary projects.
As per a project report submitted in 2011 by the Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd, Hyderabad, to the KSIDC, only 200 acres of land is required for the project. Three units of 400MW can be produced from 63.50 acres and a surrounding boundary of 136.50 acres. Electricity could be accessed from the 220KV line neighbouring the site, the study sayus. An estimated `4756.37 crore is the cost of the project as per the study. The gas fuel from the GAIL pipe line and 3,480 cubic metre water from the Kariankode river situated 2km away from the site can be availed for the project. But the proposal invitation in Emerging Kerala showed ‘Land availability: 1,621 acres of government land’ to attract Indian and foreign investors. But as soon as the controversies emerged the land availability was suddenly reduced to 200 acres on the emerging Kerala website.