The Lok Satta Party, on Sunday, demanded that the Government categorically declare the thermal power project proposed at Sompet in Srikakulam district as cancelled.
The party said, "The Government's silence on the fate of the project, even after the Environmental Appraisal Committee has withdrawn all its clearances, is intriguing."
The party also demanded that the Government withdraw all the cases against agitators against the thermal plant and go to the assistance of the injured in the
police firing.
Lok Satta Party president Jayaprakash Narayan put forth the demands when a party's fact-finding committee on the Sompet project submitted its final report to him at the party headquarters on Sunday.
JP added that the committee, headed by State party Vice President Bhisetty Babji, comprised state party Secretary D Vishnu Murthy, Srikakulam District President K Poli Naidu, and member of party Legal Cell Tammineni Annam Naidu.
Lok Satta Party Working President D V V S Varma released the committee's findings to the media.
Narayana added that the committee found Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC) guilty of initiating work on the project even as cases concerning the site were pending in local courts, the High Court, and the tribunal.
NCC had sought environmental clearance for the project in August 2008, while the Government handed over the site to it in May-June 2009. It sought environmental clearance concealing the fact that there was a water body in the proposed site.
The Environmental Appraisal Committee, too, gave its clearance without verifying ground realities.
When local people opposed initiation of work at the site by the construction firm on 14th July 2010, they were assaulted by some anti-social elements hired by the company. The police then opened fire on the agitators in order to disperse them.
Narayan suggested that the Land Acquisition Act be amended and an autonomous institution constituted to ensure justice to all stakeholders in land acquisition for projects.
Courtesy: INN