Fresh summons to builder for Talegaon power plant

Court issues fresh summons to Niranjan Hiranadani and state officials after Talegaon residents accused them of building plant without eco clearance

Fresh summons to builder for Talegaon power plant

Court issues fresh summons to Niranjan Hiranadani and state officials after Talegaon residents accused them of building plant without eco clearance

As Jaitapur residents oppose the proposed mega nuclear power plant in their region, another battle rages in the state a little north of it.

Niranjan Hiranandani

Residents of Talegaon near Pune have accused Mumbai-based Niranjan Hiranadani of setting up a power plant without environmental clearance. They upped the stakes by taking the matter to court.

And in a favourable turn of events for them, the court, while hearing the case on Tuesday, has served fresh summons to the builder for March 23.

Pandurang Mavale, secretary of Navlakh Umbre Paryavaran Parisar Vikas Sangh, an NGO, filed a criminal petition against M/s Hindustan Electricity Generation in a local court last month, after the builder ignored a High Court order (June 17, 2010) to stop construction.

The company is run by Hiranandani and 17 others, including officials from the state environment department.

According to Mavale, Hiranandani had approached the villagers a few years ago, and bought 240 acres in return for Rs 25 lakh for every acre, on the condition that he would construct row houses.

But he allegedly started setting up a power plant, posing a health hazard to the 7,000 families that reside in the area.

"We're only against the power project. We have no problem with Hiranandani coming up with the row houses. Even the court has supported our plea," he said.

On Tuesday, RD Hazare, judicial magistrate, Maval (Pune) found Hiranandani and others responsible for violating the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The Other Side

Niranjan Hiranandani was unavailable for comment. Milind Gokhale, GM(projects), Hindustan Electricity Generation, clarified that the court has not passed any order against Hiranandani or the officials.
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He said, "We have already obtained deemed consent from the state pollution board and have also fulfilled four out of the five conditions put forward by the state environment department.

We are getting the non-agricultural title to the land in the next few days. The plot was always meant for generating power and we never promised any row houses on it.

The local villagers are misguided and if such unwanted harassment continues, we will have to shift our project to Gujarat."