CHENNAI: Union Environment Ministry is likely to initiate action against officials of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd (TANGEDCO) for deliberately concealing information and misleading the ministry to get environment clearance for its 660 MW Ennore Supercritical Thermal Power Project (Expansion).An Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the ministry has found glaring inconsistencies in public consultation process.
As per the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, the public consultation process has two components, a public hearing and uploading of EIA in Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), displaying it for a month on TNPCB’s website and publishing the notice in newspapers for obtaining public comments.
While the ministry has exempted conducting public hearing for Ennore power plant project, the power corporation and TNPCB, together have presented false information on uploading EIA on TNPCB website, despite EAC specifically asking for its details. The EAC uploaded only for two days and Tangedco told the ministry that no comments were received.
Navin Chandra, Chairman, EAC (Thermal power projects), said during EAC deliberations that Tangedco verbally informed that EIA was uploaded and no comments were received. TNPCB also, in a letter dated September 18, 2019, clarified that EIA report was uploaded on their website and no comments were received.
‘Action can be initiated for concealing info’
Based on TNPCB’s letter, the ministry granted environment clearance on December 12, 2019. But now, after the grant of environment clearance, TANGEDCO has informed EAC that there is no scope to upload EIA on TNPCB website as per prevailing conditions since public hearing has been exempted by the ministry.
This has made EAC to dig deep into the issue, which led to learning that TANGEDCO has concealed the information. On close scrutiny, it was observed that TANGEDCO approached TNPCB on September 17, and removed EIA from website the next day.
Hence, the comments from the public were not received. Considering all this, the EAC opined that the ministry may take a call on initiating action against the officers responsible for concealing the information. When contacted, a senior TANGEDCO official told Express that EIA will be uploaded on Union Environment Ministry website, which is also accessible by public to view and offer their comments/concerns. TNPCB officials were not available for a comment