Khammam: The public hearing on environmental impact assessment of Bhadradri power plant held at Siramapuram on Thursday turned out to be a namesake affair with only a few selected people being allowed to attend it.
The area was cordoned off by the police and there was no proper participation of the public. Even those few who were allowed to the venue could not clearly express their doubts over the impact the power plant would have on the environment.
The people in the villages under Pinapaka and Manuguru mandals who will face the impact of the project did not have proper access to information related to the project which was a pre-requisite to a public hearing.
M. Sundaraiah, a resident of Sitaramapuram, said they heard that the villages in a 10-km radius of the project would be affected by the project due to the ash release from the plant.
Interestingly, Genco officials failed to supply the 702-page report copies of Environment Assessment Impact of the plant in Telugu to the locals. Instead, a 12- page summary was provided to some people. Both the HRF, Khammam district, president D. Adinarayana and district general secretary K. Venkatanarsaiah were taken into preventive custody this morning.
TS Genco CMD D. Prabhakara Rao said latest technology would be used in the plant and that it would provide jobs to 346 locals.
